


Memories

by Starline148



Series: Memories [1]
Category: Inazuma Eleven, Inazuma Eleven GO
Genre: Becoming darker later, Being stupid with friends, Fluff, Friends respect each others, Friendship, Grief, Growing, Kisses, Long long long story, Looking for your place in Universe, M/M, Main and secondary characters may suffer but they don't hurt each others, Near death and death references, Romance, School, Slice of Life, Slow Burn Romance, There are bad people and accidents that make the bad things, University, Violence, and more - Freeform, but still slow, daily life, more to be added - Freeform, not so slow, school days, you know
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-28
Updated: 2020-07-06
Packaged: 2021-03-01 16:48:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 18
Words: 52,929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23900344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starline148/pseuds/Starline148
Summary: This is the story of two boys, Fudou Akio and Kidou Yuuto and their two best friends, Sakuma Jirou and Genda Koujirou. Going from adolescence to their adulthood, a story of how they grew, how they had fun with friends, how they fell in love, how they saved the world once and once again with soccer. Because soccer unites hearts.
Relationships: Fudou Akio/Kidou Yuuto, Genda Koujirou/Sakuma Jirou, More with minior to none plot relevance but that are still there
Series: Memories [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1722697
Comments: 12
Kudos: 33





	1. Prologue: The End

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is my most loved story by this moment, it's a long long long story. It may have 50 chapters (I'm working -rewritting- it). I'll be updating chapters WEDNESDAYS and SUNDAYS
> 
> If you want to join me in this journey of love and sadness, we will make it together.
> 
> I really really apreciate feedback, I love to read comments even if they seem short, even "I like it" it's something that makes my day. So don't be shy, I love to talk! (Sometimes I'm slow, really slow replyig, but I love comments as any other writer). 
> 
> Once that said, I hope you'll enjoy the Prologue. I wanted to start with "the end" (the end of the Story, but not the end of their story) to make the Story like a regression as the tittle "Memories" suggest. All the chapters are their memories retold or something in this way.
> 
> Hope you'll like it!

A young man with brown hair stretched lazily as he was sitting in one of the many seats at a quiet airport gate. The place was extraordinarily clean and a warm mid-morning light flooded everything in its path with a strange sense of peace.

  
He looked carefully around him and, although he still couldn't focus the eyes he had just opened, he smiled when he noticed before him a person with his arms crossed. The person he loved with all his soul, the person he had married, the person he had greatly missed lately.

“Well, well, if it's Kidou Yuuto himself. Have you come to get me to board?”

Kidou Yuuto appeared to be in his mid-thirties, with long russet hair falling freely down his back and dressed in a pretty, gleaming white suit. He wore a golden cap. His gaze fixed on the carefree young man in front of him who was watching him amused by his appearance.

“You're late, Akio.”

Fudou Akio stretched again and yawned looking at his hands with a satisfied grimace, he jumped up, smoothing his equally white T-shirt and observing the other man's uncovered eyes of a beautiful red color. A soft sigh came from his lips and a big smile lit up his face. His hands caressed his partner's cheek longingly.

“Those are ways to receive me, Yuuto? After all this time?”

Kidou replied with a growl that sounded like he should have hurried up and Fudou laughed heartily making Kidou look at him somewhat annoyed, as if he really was hurt from the waiting time.

“I wanted to be the last to arrive, but it seems that you missed me, huh, Kidou-kun?.”

“Of course I missed you, idiot! The waiting was eternal. If you wanted to be the last, you did it from afar, Gouenji arrived a few days ago and we all hoped it would be him the last,” Kidou murmured, rubbing his hand over his eyes. “Endou is really unbearable saying that he wants to play soccer with everyone and you were missing, I don't know if we could have lasted longer. “

“Come on, come on, haven't you heard that time doesn't really exist?” Fudou winked at Kidou who rolled his eyes but then smiled widely and looked at him tenderly.

Fudou looked around the bright place and saw a man guarding the boarding gate to the plane. A mischievous smile appeared on Fudou's face and he laughed out loud.

“Are there no more workers in this place or what? Whenever I come here, we meet.”

The man was extraordinarily handsome and dressed in an elegant white aircrew suit; his golden eyes sparkled with laughter as he answered.

“The problem is your habit of appearing around here when it's not your turn, Fudou Akio.”

“Last time, I promise.”

The man laughed and took something out of his pocket that he turned to look to leave a moment of privacy for the other two, feeling that they needed it.

Kidou who had looked askance at the man turned to Fudou.

“We have been talking about you before, you were and still are too careless.”

Fudou shrugged, hugging Kidou, missing the gesture in which he could feel his heart. He let his eyes get lost in his partner, he sighed heavily with resignation and wrapped his arms around him pressing against his body while also letting himself be caught by the eyes like his ocean.

Their lips met in a warm kiss, and Fudou couldn't help but tear slid down her cheek.

"Damn, I really missed you so much, Yuuto."

Kidou smiled, unable to avoid teasing him as he always did despite wiping his tear away.

"Maybe if you hadn't wanted to get the last one ..."

Fudou opened his eyes and they both laughed together.  
  
After several more long kisses in that hug the two young men finally separated. Fudou held out a hand to Kidou who grabbed it without thinking twice.

“So ... shall we board? Or Endou will kill me when I arrive for taking so long, though…” Fudou stopped for a thoughtful moment.

"Don't worry about the terminology," Kidou laughed. “Come on, or you won't be the only Endou’s victim.”

“I really want to play soccer, I hope I'm not rusty, it’s a while since my last match.”

Kidou looked him up and down.

“It seems to me that you are in good shape.”

“Yes?” Fudou laughed a little. “Getting old is horrible, Yuuto. The whole body hurts.”

“What are you going to tell me …”

The two laughed out loud and addressed the man who was guarding the gate.

“Can we go now?”

The man consulted a touch screen and nodded.

"Of course," he replied, pulling away so they could board.

“Let's see if they give you a good vacation.”  
“As soon as I finish my duty I plan to take some time off. Maybe I'll go to the beach, it's been a long time since I were to the beach …”

“How much? A few centuries?” Fudou joked.  
The man smiled and pointed at the door.

“Shut up and come in before you change your mind again, Fudou Akio.”

“No.This time I surely board.” Fudou's eyes moved to Kidou.

The two went to the door, before going to the other side looked at each other and nodded at the same time.

“Together forever, Akio", Kidou murmured, squeezing Fudou's hand feeling happier than ever.

"Together forever, Yuuto", Fudou replied, returning the squeeze as a smile of happiness appeared on his pale face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once that you read the Prologue you may think "this person doesn't know how airports work", but I do. 
> 
> Anyways, I hope you liked it! Soon more, and this time, starting at the start ;D


	2. Memory 01: Why?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fudou overthinks about his problems and how to move on when he hears a group of girls talking poorly of him. Kidou also hears them and he decides to defend his friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Today is Wednesday so, here it's first chapter of this story.
> 
> I really love this chapter but I love all of them so maybe I'm not objetive. I hope you'll like it! Thanks for reading.
> 
> I will appreciate feedback if you want to!

A Mohican-styled brown-haired teenager walked alone through the busy and lively streets of the island's main city where the Football Frontier International tournament was taking place, Liocott Island. Although his mood could not be more different from the place.    
  
He was walking without a fixed aim, with a frown and his hands stuck in the pockets of the shorts that he used to dress when he was not wearing the soccer clothes or the tracksuit of the Japanese team, it was too hot. He walked thinking.   
  
Thinking, in a few days it would be the final match against the Little Gigant team and he, somehow, felt nervous and that was unusual for him. A new feeling had grown in his chest, a seed that he had unknowingly planted the day he was selected as a player for the Japanese team and that had grown throughout the matches as his bonds with other teammates grew stronger. It was a seed of friendship.   
  
He didn't quite understand how to deal with his new emotions, he had never felt anything like this before. That feeling of wanting to be better every day because of others, for others was something new. He was not used to thinking of others before himself. A few months before, he would have verbally sent to places not too pleasant to anyone who had told him that the day would come when he, Fudou Akio, could relax with someone the way he did. And he would have even sent them to a worse place if they had told him that of all the people in the vast Universe it would be Kidou Yuuto the first person to earn his faith.

  
Fudou paused for a moment, watching the blue sky as slow, lazy, fat white clouds moved like sheep in a meadow. He wanted Inazuma Japan to win the international match, he wanted it like he had never wanted anything before. He wanted to see everyone smile, he wanted to see them scream excited when the name of their team was recognized as the winner, he wanted to see how Endou lifted the World Cup and everyone else lifted Endou with cheers.    
  
He kept walking, approaching the most commercial area of the city, full of bazaars, souvenir and food stores, as well as sports stores where, above all, it could be bought the shirts of the different teams that participated in the tournament.    
  
He had really changed, because… he had really changed, hadn't he? Fudou swallowed with difficulty at the same time that a black vertigo settled in his stomach. He feared as he had never feared something that when the tournament ended he would return to being the same as always. He shook his head from side to side, no, he couldn't think about it. He would not be the ruthless and distrustful Fudou Akio again, he would not let hatred and vanity sink him again. He was a new person, metaphorically speaking.    
  
He had friends, not henchmen, or bootleggers, or people who followed him to take advantage of his strength. He had made real friends. His hands closed on his pockets as he bit his lip. What if they weren't really friends? What if they were just pretending because he was a teammate? What if once the tournament was over and Inazuma Japan dissolved they didn't want to know anything more about him? What if Kidou Yuuto didn't want to see him again?

  
He knew that if they did, he couldn't blame them, he had so much to regret. His heart ached. He knew he couldn't blame them, he had done a lot of harm to other people in his hunger for power.

* * *

  
He stopped in front of a showcase full of high-quality sports equipment. His mind slipped away thinking his sneakers were starting to wear out and he had to seriously value changing them and avoiding poor performance in the final match, the most important match of all. His turquoise blue eyes, dark as the midnight sea, scanned the items in the store. So much had happened. So much had happened in such a short time.   
  
Sudden high-pitched screams made him close one eye in an annoyance looking for the origin of the unpleasant noise which he soon located, almost beside him was a group of teenage fanatics.

“Look, girls, look!” more group screams “They are some of the Inazuma Japan players!”

  
Fudou when hearing that last shout looked with curiosity through the reflection of the showcase; a group of six girls between the ages of seventeen or eighteen wearing the Japanese team t-shirts pointed to several of his teammates. A few meters from them, from him, were Kidou, Gouenji, Endou, Kazemaru and Fubuki, the boys seemed entertained looking at the window of a pastry shop in front of which the captain of Inazuma Japan salivated abundantly.    
  
The brunette teenager blinked and felt discomfort inside again, a new shake of that shadow lodged deep in his being, was he really necessary for the team? Every time he saw his teammates together, having fun, he couldn't help but feel that deep down, deep down, he was just a burden. He knew he had changed, he knew he was a better person, but did they know? His logical part said yes, but… even if they knew, did they care? Could Fudou Akio really be their friend?   
  
The girls began to speak quickly to each other, Fudou heard everything from his back position, seeing only through the reflection. His eyes narrowed until they became two small slits of unease.   
“All the members of Inazuma Japan are great, right?” one of them said to her friends.

“They are all so incredible, it shows that they are Japanese.”

“Except him, right?”   
The group nodded as a single being and Fudou discovered that his hands were firmly pressed inside his pockets, he felt annoyed. There they went again, he snorted without taking his eyes off the reflection, he couldn't stop looking. A tremor had seized his body.   
“Why did they include Fudou Akio in the team? He only causes conflicts with his teammates.”

“You know what? I heard he used to belong to a street gang ... He was a real criminal.”

“Do you think he continue to be? What if he has them all threatened?”“

Fudou's eyes rolled at those comments. Yes, there they were again, like every time he went out, like every time someone talked about him behind his back, everyone criticized him, everyone discredited him ... and then people asked him why he didn't go out on the island more! Fudou bit his lip. He did not want to, could not, should not. He was stained and did not want to contaminate his teammates with his stigma.    
  
He didn't want people to speak badly of his teammates because of him, he didn't want them to speak badly of those he had come to consider his friends.    
  
But deep down, he knew it, he knew he deserved those words. Yes, he deserved them. He trembled, he wanted to leave the past behind, just as he had told Kidou when they faced Kageyama together. He would leave his past behind, even if he left his skin on it. Maybe one day, would he feel that he no longer deserved those words? Maybe someone would one day really want to be by his side?

He watched the girls sideways, mired in a whirlwind of conflicting emotions. He wanted to have friends, but he didn't feel that he deserved to have friends. He wanted to be someone of value to others, but he himself did not see his value as a person. He wanted to spend time with others, but he was ashamed of himself. He wanted to trust, but his heart was afraid.   
  
Kidou had stood from the showcase of the patisserie and was looking, or so it seemed through his glasses, at the group of teenage girls. His eyebrows were drawn, he suddenly approached them with determined steps.   
“Excuse me for meddling, I couldn't help but hear your conversation and I would appreciate it if you stopped talking bad about my friend Fudou.”   
  
Kidou's words were greeted with a brief silence from the girls. Fudou's lips parted slightly in a grimace of disbelief as he watched Kidou's reflection, firm, determined, serious. An unfortunate change of heart preceded a strong oppression in the chest, Fudou's pulse accelerated for no apparent reason.

"But ..." one of the girls wanted to start.

Kidou cut her short.

“Fudou is a very valuable friend and teammate to us. He is a key piece in our victories as Inazuma Japan, if we have managed to reach the final it has been thanks to his great ability as a strategist that has saved us from defeat on countless occasions -although he added quickly-, and the effort of all the others Members of the team including me,” he continued in a loud voice. “Fudou Akio is part of Inazuma Japan and I will not tolerate anyone disrespecting him.”

The brown-haired boy was puzzled, his wide-open eyes couldn't take his eyes off Kidou's reflection, though in the end he turned to see the real Kidou directly. His heart was going as fast as if he was running right after a ball. Really? Did Kidou really think that about him? A dark voice pierced his head telling him no, that it was a lie, that no one needed him. His stomach got smaller and smaller.   
  
The girls looked embarrassed and blushed unable to bear Kidou's fierce gaze that scorched even through the tinted lenses of his blue rubber goggles. They did not want one of their great heroes to think poorly on them.   
“But it doesn't seem like the others, why would someone like you, so good and kind, be friend with someone ... like this?”

  
Yes, why? Why would someone like Kidou want to be friends with someone like him? Why would someone like Kidou defend him? Why?   
  


“I don't have to explain to anyone about my personal decisions. Fudou is a great friend of mine and a good boy, in his own way. He may have made wrong decisions in the past, but he isn’t the only one. I repeat that I will not tolerate anyone speaking poorly of him without even knowing him.”

And with a dramatic flick of his stupid red cape he prepared to leave; however, he stayed white in place with his hand gripping the cloth. He just saw Fudou behind the group of girls, Fudou watched him with a grimace on his lips, leaning against the showcase with his hands in his pockets, as if he didn’t care; Of course it was all a facade to hide how his hands were sweating and how his stomach twisted on itself. Fudou really wanted to believe that those words were completely honest.   
  
The girls did not understand what had happened and turned curiously to see what had made one of their idols pale in such a way. Of course, they too turned pale upon discovering that the person they had been criticizing was there behind their backs. But Fudou did not look at them, his turquoise and bright eyes were fixed on Kidou, as if he were under the influence of a spell.   
  
The russet-haired teenager swallowed uncomfortably, decided to turn away at a fast pace but forgetting to wave the cape as he wanted to start. He was reunited with his other friends who had not found out anything of what had happened because Endou had come to buy a cake unable to resist that sweet temptation and dragging the others into that sin of gluttony.   
  
The girls when seeing that Kidou left also hurried to put distance between them and Fudou. Leaving the boy pondering, alone again. His eyes met Kidou's gaze once more before the teenagers turned their backs on him and walked down the street talking animatedly.

  
  
Fudou, however, was slow to move. He was tired of everyone saying Kidou was such a good boy. Or rather, he was tired of the fact that everyone had so easily forgiven Kidou and forgotten the days when Kidou was a ruthless and cold-blooded executioner under the command of that Kageyama jerk; but that nothing of what he had done could be ignored even when he was also manipulated by external forces. He was tired. He bit his lips angrily. And whom he was most tired of was himself.

Why couldn't he forgive himself? Why was he martyred believing that he deserved to be insulted when his true desire was to have fun with others? He snorted angrily and punched the wall, causing the tourists who were walking around to jump and quickly walk away.   
  


* * *

  
  
He decided to head back to the residence, deep in thought. "Fudou is a great friend of mine and he's a good boy, in his own way", the brown-haired teenager kept mentally repeating that moment, why? Why couldn't he stop thinking about it? Why his chest was so warm?   
  
He arrived on time for dinner, unlike most of the team. Kidou was sitting alone, surely waiting for his friends whom Fudou had seen helping Tachimukai with a few extra shots taking advantage of the sugar rise. Why had Kidou decided to enter the dining room alone?   
  
He smiled mischievously, picked up a tray of food, and headed for the boy. Sitting across from him at his puzzled expression. His eyebrows stretched and his ears at some point took on a slight reddish hue.

“Can I sit here, Kidou-kun?”

“I don't see anyone else's name written on the chairs.”

Fudou laughed out loud and was silent for a moment, noticing Kidou's discomfort at that. After a while of chewing silently Fudou asked him.

“So, I'm a good boy?”   
Kidou looked up for a moment from his plate where he had forced himself to look until then. Fudou could see his eyes through the glasses making his stomach give a little jump and forcing himself to accentuate his mocking smile.

“Don't make me regret defending you.”

"As if I need someone to defend me," he murmured, clearly not being honest.

“Everyone needs someone to defend him sometimes.”

“Even the great genius, strategist and indisputable master of the pitch Kidou Yuuto?”   
Kidou kept his gaze fixed on Fudou and smiled in such a strange way that Fudou felt something too strange inside, a mixture between something produced by puppies, something produced by peanut butter cookies dipped in soda and something Roller coasters produced him as he plummeted. He clenched his teeth in confusion.   
  


Kidou finished what little he had left of dinner and stood up calmly.   
“Endou is the one who made me understand the real football, who opened my eyes to the light, it was like a ray of sunshine on a stormy day.”   
He grabbed the tray with his hands and started to turn, not before finishing saying with a smile, not very wide but honest.

“But it was you who managed to break the chains of hatred that held me, freeing me from the past that tormented me and defending my heart from the darkness. You have been the light that has put an end to my inner storm.”

He took a couple of steps but turned again.   
“I trust you, Fudou. And I know that you too will soon be able to leave your past behind, let's move towards a bright future together.”   
Fudou noticed how his face was getting redder and redder as he listened to him. Kidou left without Fudou being able to answer more than a babble. 

When left alone, Fudou buried his head in his hands. He was barely hungry anymore, and he had barely touched his dinner. Even that voice of darkness that tormented him could not overshadow Kidou's words that had settled in his heart like a beacon capable of guiding him in the darkest of storms. His whole body burned and he felt a huge weight inside him that had nothing to do with the feeling of emptiness that haunted him at night. It was a warm weight, it was a cozy weight.   
  


“Fudou, man!” Tsunami tapped him on the back to greet him while sitting next to him.

The boy had approached without Fudou noticing, submerged as he was in the tide of thoughts that shook him, causing him to jump startled.   
Someoka and Tobitaka took a seat in front of them, Fudou raised his eyes and understood something that warmed his being even more.

“Relax, Tsunami, I would like to keep my spine intact for the match against the little giants.”   
They all laughed out loud.

“You wouldn't believe what happened before, buddy!”

Fudou looked at Tsunami who made that face that indicated that he was dying to tell an anecdote. Someoka looked down with a grunt and a completely red face. Tobitaka shook his head a little, resigned to hearing that little battle again.

"Try," Fudou challenged.

“Someoka was bitten in the ass by a pelican and then it chased us all over the beach! Don't see the commotion that we created!”   
Fudou laughed even at Someoka's menacing gaze.

"That stupid animal." Someoka crushed a small tomato on his plate. “It may have won the battle but it won’t win the war.”

Tobitaka sighed.   
“Don't count with me, from what Tsunami says that animal has everything to win the war.”   
The four of them laughed, continued to chat animatedly as they finished their respective dinners.   
  


Yes, somehow after Kidou's words he could understand that these three boys also considered him a friend and that they saw him as one of them. And that made him immensely happy.   
  
He suddenly stopped feeling lonely, although it took him a while to realize it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When translating the chapter (I write it in my Mother Language -Spanish-) I saw the word beacon and was confused because I understood bacon. And for a moment, idk, I couldn't avoid to imagine Kidou as bacon and was like wtf.
> 
> I really love the Bad Boy's group: Fudou, Tobitaka, Someoka and Tsunami. They're such a lovely group of dumbs that try to look tough.


	3. Memory 02: Unexpected visits

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two days before the match against Little Gigant, Inazuma Japan gets some unexpected visits: friends and familly goes to the island to cheer them up in the Final. Fudou leaves looking for Kidou when Teikoku Team appears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Today is Sunday which means, new chapter! I hope you'll like it! If you do, don't forget to give some kind of feedback! This means a lot to me.
> 
> I totally rewrote this chapter and the next one, replacing the old second chapter with these two. I really like how this turned out, I love Teikoku Team, they're going to be important in the story.

The day of the final game was inexorably approaching, a great tension had grown in Liocott Island and discussions broke out from time to time between the fans of the different parties, some of them ended even violently.

  
That tension was also experienced in the Inazuma Japan team and Coach Kudou was stricter than ever. That day, two before the game, was the hardest that any of the teenagers could remember.   
  
When the man told them they finished training, the relieved boys began to drop down the field, catching their breath. Fudou looked agitatedly at the blue sky where not even a small cloud gave them a little shade. It was a very hot afternoon, it was always hot in that place.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead and quickly realized that someone was missing. Kidou should have left as soon as he finished training. Fudou sat up on the ground looking better at the field, no, he was nowhere to be seen. He frowned thoughtfully.

“Have you seen Kidou, Sakuma?”

After a while the brown-haired teenager approached the other silver-haired boy who shook his head while drinking water.

“We have been training together, but I haven't seen him since we finished training.”

Fudou nodded and opened his mouth, but what he was going to say was lost to a huge shriek from Sakuma.

A group of boys passed by the entrance gates of the training camp, led by a tall teenager with wild brown hair and intense blue eyes, under which he wore stripes of orange face paint.

“Genda!”

“Sakuma!”

Sakuma rushed to hug the boy who had just entered and returned the hug with a huge smile.

“Narukami! Henmi! Jimon! Sakiyama!”   
Sakuma shoouted the name of all his Teikoku friends as they hugged each other excitedly.

Fudou watched them worriedly, he realized that he could not move from where he was, as if he had been hit to the ground, and the reason was that his knees were shaking. Seeing that group of people at the time had terrified him. They were a group of people to whom he owed a lot of explanations for his past behavior. He swallowed, feeling a cold sweat run down his back.

“What are you doing here?” Sakuma asked, visibly moved, although upon realizing it he coughed a bit and forced himself, somewhat late, to maintain a cold composure making the others laugh.

“What do you think, Sakuma?” asked a short boy with two-color face paint, Doumen.

“We have come to cheer Inazuma Japan in the final!” exclaimed another boy with purple spiky hair, Narukami.

"We are not the only ones, a lot of people have come with us," said a large boy who seemed to be wearing a helmet, Oono.

Sakuma opened his eye in amazement.

"Yes," smiled a boy with a flattened nose and dreadlocks hair grabbing Sakuma by the shoulder, Jimon. “I think it helps that the Prime Minister's daughter is so close to the captain of Inazuma Japan. He reserved an entire international plane for all of us who wanted to come.”

Sakuma whistled in admiration.

“We were a very diverse group, there were people from many different teams, everyone who has a member in Inazuma Japan has come and other friends too” laughed a very pale boy with glasses and with a swirl on his forehead Gojou.

"Yes, we were so noisy that the adults were allowed to travel apart from us in the first class part," agreed a tall, lanky teenager with hair in half-mane and thick lips, Banjou.

“Adults?” Sakuma asked.

"Your families have come," replied briefly a boy with a mask over his mouth, Sakiyama.

Sakuma yelled something and looked around in case he saw his parents.

"Easy, easy," laughed a boy with long, light hair, Henmi. “They will not come yet, in truth they told us all to leave you alone because you were training and they offered to take us on a tour of the Island. But we wanted to come in case you needed help with the training.”

Sakuma nodded gratefully and looked at his fellow Inazuma Japan teammates who were beginning to stand up to greet the newcomers.

"It seems to me that today, at least for now, we are not going to train anymore, the training has left us exhausted," Sakuma replied.

The Teikoku team also followed Sakuma's gaze.

“Where's Kidou? Does he no longer want to know anything about us?” Genda asked, narrowing his eyes.

“We don't know where he is, Fudou and I were talking about it …”

Sakuma pointed at the mohican boy and suddenly there was a tense silence in the group. Everyone looked at Fudou with drawn eyebrows and pursed lips. Fudou noticed more cold sweats and realized that he was not well received among these people.

“In fact, you know what? I'm going to go look for him and give him the wonderful news that his old team has come to cheer him on.”

And before anyone else could say anything, for example insults towards him, the teenager ran away.

* * *

  
Fudou ran off without thinking well about the direction he was going, with the sole objective of putting distance between him and Teikoku team. When he thought it was enough, he stood up, wiped the sweat off his shaved head, and fixed the little hair that was allowed to grow. Where could Kidou be? Maybe the boy only went to the bathroom, however Fudou had a hunch and headed towards that place.

When he arrived he was pleased to discover that, once again, he was right. It was a small clearing among the palm trees that grew on the edge of a cliff from which it could be seen the sea, one of the many viewpoints on Liocott Island, although that one was somewhat isolated and faced east. A small mound with a stone burial plaque had been erected there.

Kidou was sitting cross-legged on the ground in front of that tomb, which was not a real tomb, in front of him the sea opened up whose waves seemed to compose a background melody. He held the blue goggles he used to wear in his hands and toyed with them between his fingers. 

Fudou looked at him for a moment undecided about whether he should approach or leave him alone, in the end he decided to approach making his presence known. Kidou turned around scared when he heard someone from behind but when he saw Fudou he let out a sigh and returned to his previous position.

“Hello, Fudou.”

Fudou shook his head and sat next to him without saying anything. Nor did Kidou say anything for a few moments in which he just kept moving the glasses in his hands. Fudou looked from time to time at Kidou's self-absorbed face, especially his eyes. 

  
After a long time Fudou opened his mouth, although almost immediately he wished he had kept it closed.

“You have really beautiful eyes.”

Kidou blushed and his glasses slipped from his fingers to the grass where he didn't bother picking them up. His eyes looked directly into Fudou's and both of them felt as if someone had hit them in the head with a blow. There was a tense silence between them until Kidou decided to break it.

"I don't think my eyes are particularly pretty," he murmured, looking back at the grave. Yours instead…”

It was Fudou's turn to blush and he quickly looked down at the ground where the sun was shining on the lenses of the rubber goggles. He reached out one of his hands to take the object, a gesture that made Kidou look at it again with some apprehension.

Fudou took the goggles and looked at them carefully passing them between his thin fingers, after examining them for a while and to Kidou's surprise he put them on. The brown-haired teenager gave a vile exclamation.

“Fuck!”

Kidou watched him with a little grin, as soon as Fudou put on his glasses his body had begun to sway unbalanced.

“How can you see with these, Kidou-kun?”

“Habit.”

Fudou stretched out his arms and stood up with difficulty, managing to stagger even more, Kidou laughed.

“There are a lot of lines and colors.”

“They are special glasses that allow me to see and analyze movements.”

"Yes, yes ... I know," Fudou advanced almost like someone with several more wine cups. “Although that is not cheating? I have to do all those calculations in my head, you know?”

“The glasses only help me, I do the final calculations, Fudou.”

"Hmm… I don't know, I'm not sure…" suddenly a mischievous smile appeared on Fudou's lips. “If I do it without support and you need this,, it means that I am better, right?”

"In your dreams, Fudou," Kidou scoffed, sitting up. “Now take them off before you kill yourself.”

“Ha, go on trickster.”

Fudou turned around, although that simple gesture caused a lot of stimulation in the glasses and he lost his balance, falling forward against Kidou.

“Fudou!”

Kidou, who had barely had time to get up and was not firmly on the ground, also lost his balance and both boys fell together. Kidou was lying on his back with Fudou on top of him. They both blurted out the same swear word at the same time.

Kidou raised his arms and took Fudou's goggles off leaving them on the grass next to them, but he made no move to remove the other boy from above who was blinking fastly still dizzy. 

“In the end one gets used to it, now it's hard for me to see without my glasses.”

"You have a lot of colored lights around your face," Fudou growled, rubbing his eyes.

Failing to make the lights fade, he let out a frustrated growl and dropped his head against Kidou's chest, his face right in his heart. Kidou noticed a sudden bubbling inside of him.

Trying to keep Fudou from noticing that his heartbeat had shot up Kidou jabbed him in the ribs with a finger to annoy him and asked him.

"Were you looking for me for any particular reason?"

Fudou growled, turning on top of Kidou, which did not amuse him, and raised his head to look at him.

“Why do you think I was looking for you?”

Kidou raised both eyebrows at once and Fudou laughed, deciding at the same time that it was better to stand up, fortunately for the other strategist who was starting to run out of air. He brushed the grass off his clothes and held out a hand to Kidou, who accepted it gratefully. Fudou pulled him and Kidou got up from the ground. Neither separated their hands after that.

It was not the first time that after a casual gesture between them that involved physical contact, they both stayed longer than normal in that way. It had been the same on other occasions, such as when Rika and Haruna were rescued from the clutches of Angels and Demons. 

"Okay, okay, Kidou-kun," Fudou snorted. “You have visits.”

Kidou raised his eyebrows again, although this time in surprise.

“Visits?”

The brunette boy nodded, noticing that the cold sweat was running again, Kidou realized it.

“What is it, Fudou?”

“They have come from Japan to cheer us on ... Friends, family ... Whoever has them ...”

Fudou bit his lips, thinking about his mother, in the last time he couldn't get her out of his head. He had disappointed that woman so much, he had failed her as much as a son. Surely she would never forgive him. Where would she be in those moments? Would she has eaten well during that time? Would she miss him like he did with her? The last time he saw her, he left home after an argument, just before being selected to represent Japan, just before he began to change. He felt dirty, he felt horrible. Would his mother be able to forgive him? Would she be able to give him a new chance? He was afraid to think that perhaps his mother preferred that he disappeared.

Fudou's turquoise eyes unconsciously moved to the grave, although they unknowingly had tears in them. He knew perfectly well why Kidou had come to that place.

“Do you blame you for his death?”

“Ah? What's that for? Don't change the subject, Fudou.”

Fudou kept looking at the grave and Kidou realized then that he was crying.

"Hey, hey, Fudou ..." Kidou stepped back a bit before reaching over and touching his arm. “What happens? Are you sad about Kageyama's death?”

Fudou gave no sign of having noticed either his words or his gesture, until unable to hold it anymore he asked in a broken voice.

"Do you think my mother will want to see me when this all is over?"

But before Kidou, perplexed by that unexpected question, could answer, Fudou shook his head, wiping away his tears, he shouldn't let Kidou see him in such a pathetic way.

"Leave it, it's stupid," he tried to put on his usual tough boy expression and he moved, "Shall we go back?"

“Wait” Kidou grabbed his wrist “You don't have to repress your feelings like that.”

"Of course I have to ..." Fudou clenched his fists in annoyance and his eyes flashed with fury. “What will you know !?”

But Kidou was not intimidated and grabbed him by the shoulders to force him to look directly at him.

"Fudou ..." the boy's turquoise eyes held back the tears he did not allow himself to release, Kidou whispered in a soft voice. “You really are an idiot, you know?” he paused and hugged him, it was the first time they hugged each other and the mohican boy felt a certain comfort in that gesture, heart against heart. “Your mother will surely be very proud of you right now, I have no doubt that she will be happy to see you again. Maybe she even came to the island.”

“Yes, and maybe Kabeyama will become the star striker of Inazuma Japan.”

Kidou laughed out loud at that and hugged him tighter. They stayed like that for a while until Kidou noticed how his friend's breathing calmed down.    
  


Fudou wiped his tears that time for real, he couldn't worry about something like that at the moment, he would face everything when the World Cup ended and he would look for his mother to ask her forgiveness.

“Come on, Kidou-kun. There is a team of cheerleaders waiting for you.”

Kidou raised his eyebrows confused at this, Fudou smirked without wanting to say anything else, so the boy sighed, putting his goggles back on which he picked up from the floor. They both started on the way back.

* * *

“I do not know exactly what I feel about Kageyama’s death” Kidou suddenly remarked as they walked along one of the busy streets of the island dodging tourists, Fudou turned to him to look at him as he spoke. Kidou sighed before continuing. "I still can't get my emotions in order about what happened. Kageyama and his cruel acts certainly do not deserve forgiveness; but thanks to you I stopped feeling that hatred that poisoned me inside and I am at peace with myself. Being killed by running him over after he wanted to redeem himself is… ironic. Somehow I think I blame myself for what happened, I wasn't able to avoid it and it was there ... I'm confused.”   
Fudou watched him, was silent for a while before saying anything, although his hand momentarily touched Kidou's forearm.

“You are no more guilty than me or anyone else.”

“I know, I just feel like maybe I could do something to avoid it.” 

“We couldn't do anything to avoid it, Kidou. Now he can rest in peace at least.”

“Yes, maybe it's better this way ... He ended his days redeeming himself, perhaps that will eventually make us remember him for that and not for how bastard he was.”

“It is true that Kageyama was a bastard, but he was an important bastard in your life for better or for worse, it will take you a while to overcome his death, Kidou; but …” Fudou fell silent, what he meant to say was too embarrassing.

"I know I can talk to you about it, Fudou," Kidou finished, as if he had read his mind. “Thank you.”

Fudou nodded blushing.

“I think what reassures me the most is knowing that despite everything without the influence of Kageyama perhaps we would never have met. So I owe him that at least.”   
Fudou's turquoise eyes widened in surprise at those words and he collided with Kidou who had stopped and looked at him closely. Fudou's mouth opened, the boy felt like his brain had suddenly dried up, unable to respond, he finally managed to compose himself and said with the usual mocking tone.   
“Two brilliant geniuses like us in such a small world? Kidou, you and I were destined to meet.”

They were silent for a while thinking about that, destined to meet ... Yes, without a doubt. 

  
Soon after, the two boys arrived at the training field.   



	4. Memory 03: Letting the past go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Kidou by his side encouraging him, Fudou decides to apologize with Teikoku Team because all the things he did in the past, it's time to turn the page.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, today is Wednesday! How times flies... 
> 
> I really like this chapter, it was so emotional to write and I hope you'll like it too! Feedback is apreciated! Thanks!

There was a lot of fuss at the Inazuma Japan training ground, friends from other Japanese teams were starting to appear and were very loud. In the distance Saginuma bothered Endou about his worth as a goalkeeper, ensuring that if he did not take care he would end up being the main goalkeeper in the final. Midorikawa returned and was chatting animatedly with his friends including Kogure and Tatsuya. While the entire Raimon was surrounding his teammates who had made their way to the World Cup, Someoka seemed especially excited as he shouted with his arm around Handa's shoulders.

Kidou stopped amazed to see all those people, it was not exactly what he had expected at Fudou's explanation. The strategist seemed even more surprised to discover the entire Teikoku team, talking to Sakuma in the same place where Fudou left them when he went to look for Kidou. He blinked for a moment, were they his cheerleaders? They hadn't realized he was there yet, he glanced at Fudou and then understood why the boy seemed so nervous since they had arrived.

“I'm sure if you apologize they will forgive you, Fudou. You aren’t anymore the same person as before. Plus you weren't even your real you because of the Aliea Stone, were you? Although with stone or without stone you are a bit of a bastard.”

Fudou pursed his lips looking at the group, apologizing sounded easier than it actually was for someone like him.

"If you want I can be by your side, to give you ... moral support" Kidou smirked, trying to annoy Fudou.

Fudou's turquoise eyes looked at him and to Kidou's surprise the boy accepted, he really wanted to show that he had changed, he really wanted to show that he was no longer heartless.

“Okay.” 

And with that said he grabbed Kidou by the wrist and led him to the Teikoku team.

The boys saw the two strategists approaching and began calling out to Kidou loudly, completely ignoring Fudou. Sakuma had tried to convince them of stupid and ridiculous ideas, such as that the boy was no longer a bad person, but none of them trusted Fudou, they did not forget how Sakuma and Genda were used and took to an extreme physical point that had almost cost their lives.

"You are taller, Kidou," Genda laughed, giving him a big hug when the boy reached them.

Kidou looked at his friends and greeted them glad to see them again. He noticed that everyone wanted to talk to him after greeting him but he moved away a little to slap Fudou on the back, not realizing that he didn't remove his hand from his back after that.

“Fudou wants to tell you something.”

All eyes shifted to look at Fudou, except Sakuma who first saw how a woman with light brown hair entered the field with hesitant steps.

Fudou took a deep breath, encouraged by Kidou's gesture. He looked perhaps too aggressively at them before bowing his head.

“I want to apologize for everything you've been through because of me! I am so sorry! Especially for what I did to you ... I ... I'm really sorry." Fudou looked at Sakuma and Genda honestly.

The group was silent for a few moments, believing at first that it was a joke, a joke without any fun. Sakuma was the first to react, he closed his eye for a moment and nodded in signal that he accepted the apology, after all he had witnessed with his own amber eye the boy's change and Fudou wasn’t the only one in be manipulated by Kageyama. Genda instead seemed furious.

“Are you sorry!?” He took a few steps forward and grabbed Fudou by the collar of the shirt, lifting him off the ground. “You better are really sorry, asshole! Because of you Sakuma almost died! Because of you…!”

“Genda!”

Kidou tried to separate Genda from Fudou, but Sakuma stood in the middle and looked at him seriously, he may have accepted Fudou's apology but he was not going to let Kidou meddle with Genda, he needed that to be able to turn the page.

The woman stopped and looked at them with wide eyes, Narukami realized this and felt slightly uncomfortable, a witness could complicate things.

Genda was shaking Fudou hard, he was very angry and seemed to want to provoke him to demonstrate the falsity of the boy's words.

“If you think that I am going to believe just one of the words that come out of your mouth, you are very wrong! I know perfectly how are the people like you!”

"And I thought that your only ability was to splash people with saliva when shouting," growled Fudou, trying to loosen his grip on the shirt without success.

“Fudou!” Kidou exclaimed from behind Sakuma's arms.

Fudou blinked, shook his head from side to side, that was not a good way to show that he really was sorry. He sighed heavily and stopped resisting to let go.

“Okay, hit me if that makes you feel better. I will not defend.”

Everyone blinked in disbelief at his words, Genda smiled with dark emotion.

“Be sure that I'm going to do it. Gonna see how many hits you resist before going back to being as always and returning them.”

“I won't, I've changed.”

The woman who watched the fight had tears in her eyes and covered her mouth, in the Teikoku group more people became aware of her presence and were beginning to stir.

“Genda, stop!” Kidou finally overcame Sakuma and grabbed Genda's arm trying to loosen his grip.

"Kidou." Fudou grabbed Kidou's arm at the same time, though much softer. “Thanks, but it's fine, really. I will not hit back, I have changed.”

“That's not the problem!”

"Get away, Kidou, I'm going to make this worm eat his words" Genda pushed Kidou and clenched his free hand, his eyes were shining with a certain degree of madness, nobody else tried to stop him. “Come on, cover yourself, defend yourself, asshole.”

Fudou looked at him decisively, shook his head and closed his eyes waiting for the hit. Genda gritted his teeth, gathered his arm and prepared to punch him in the face; fast and with the necessary force to break a nose.

And so it would have been if he hadn't stopped just an inch from his face. Fudou felt the current of air displaced by the movement and opened a puzzled eye.

Genda stared at him, seeing that Fudou opened his eyes sighed resignedly and released him, throwing him towards Kidou who had been held by Henmi and Jimon to prevent him from jumping on Genda. Kidou grabbed him to prevent Fudou from falling to the ground.

“If you give me a single reason to believe that you take a step back, I assure you that you will stop having that perfect nose, Fudou.”

The teenager nodded with determination.

“I like my nose as it is now.”

The goalkeeper's expression suddenly changed, a smile replaced the expression of fury that he showed until a moment ago, in front of the two strategists’ confusion.

"What am I going to do with you, Genda? You really like to perform," Sakuma sighed, reaching over him and putting his hand on his shoulder.

Teikoku's group laughed, their faces also began to relax, if Sakuma and Genda decided to forgive that boy, they would too, after all they had no more reason to hate him than the treatment he had given to his dear friends . Also, they were the first to know how much a second chance was sometimes needed.

Kidou blinked for a moment, realizing that Genda never really had any real intention of hitting Fudou, except perhaps if Fudou had acted violently.

“Did you know that he wouldn't hit you?” Kidou asked Fudou crossing his arms.

Fudou looked at him with a puzzled expression and although he was tempted to lie in the end he shook his head to be honest.

“I thought I was going to take the worst blow of my life.”

He sighed, smoothing the team's shirt, he felt better knowing that at least those people had decided to forgive him, his conscience was beginning to breathe.

But he did not have time to assimilate it.

“Hey, there is a woman who has been watching us for a long time, does anyone know who she is?” Narukami murmured, unable to hold on any longer, making everyone turn as one to look at her; discretion, what was that?

"I think I saw her on the plane," Henmi muttered.

She was a very pretty woman, slender and dressed in a summer dress, with light brown hair tied back in a half-mane and sad turquoise eyes that wept non-stop at one of them.

Fudou froze when he saw that woman, until that moment he had not noticed her and a strong tremor seized his body when he looked at her; it couldn't be, what was she doing there?

“Mom …”

That one word was enough for everyone, except Kidou who was also paralyzed, to quickly disperse to deal with other matters.

The teenager did not know how to react, if he thought that confronting the Teikoku team to apologize for what he had done to them was terrifying, he realized at those moments that he was completely wrong, to meet his mother after everything he had done in his lust for power was by far more terrifying. Seeing the woman standing, trembling as she cried, he felt himself breaking inside. It was too much, too much for a day, too much emotion, too much pain, too much to ask for forgiveness. Strong anxiety had begun to spread like poison through his body.

But there she was, and there he was, unable to move. The mere presence of his mother in that place screamed thousands of things, her tears told the story of his suffering, her eyes bag witnessed the sleepless nights begging for the safety of his son. Fudou understood that she never lost faith that one day he would retrain about his actions and find the right path.

Kidou gave Fudou a little push in the back and the boy, moved by a spring, took a couple of hesitant steps repeating that word because he couldn't say anything else, he was too emotionally agitated.

“Mom.”

Fudou was only a few steps away from her, but it felt so unreal… He bit his lip as she cried. What should he say? What could he say? Were there words in the World to apologize for what he did? The voice did not come out on his lips and his eyes reflected a deep sadness of regret. He opened his mouth, stammering something unintelligible.

The woman cut the distance between them and hugged him so tightly that the teenager thought he was going to drown, Fudou stood still, unable to coordinate a single movement due to emotional shock, noticing all the warmth of love and happiness of the reunion that that hug transmitted.

“Akio, my son.”

Fudou blinked hard trying to cut a few sudden tears, totally ineffectively, his heart beat with powerful longing.

Kidou, was a meter away from them and realized that he was in the middle of a very intimate and vital moment for the lives of those two people; He wanted to get away to leave them their space and intimacy, but at the same time he did not want to make any move that would ruin that important moment.

“I'm sorry, mom ... I was an imbecile, forgive me ..., I know I don't deserve it, but …”

His mother hugged him even tighter and shook her head, tickling her hair around his neck, thick tears running down her tired face; Fudou could feel the wet contact of her cheeks.

“I’m the one that have to apologize to you, Akio ... I didn't realize in time that you were doing all that to live up to my expectations. I should never have told you to become strong after your father left…”

“No ... no, mom I ... I misunderstood ... I was the one who didn't understand what you wanted to tell me …”

“You were a child, Akio ... How could you understand it? Please forgive me for not being a good mother.”

Fudou's hands closed on her back hugging her with anguish, finally being able to return the hug; his heart ached more than ever, but he could feel, despite the emotional confusion, his deepest wounds beginning to heal. 

“You are a good mother.”

“I'm very proud of you, Akio. You are a good boy, you have always been a good boy; even if you were confused. I love you.”

Fudou closed his eyes breathing deeply, with a slight warm and welcoming throb. Those words that he heard for the first time in his life were enormously comforting, they were words that inspired him the courage and strength to continue improving as a person, for his mother, for his friends, for himself. 

A heavy burden disappeared from his shoulders with the same ease as one who simply exists.

Kidou's lips curled into a soft smile as he listened mother and son understood each other after all those years of sadness. He stepped back to move away, and then he noticed that his friend's mother opened her eyes and looked directly at him, her eyes were the same color as Fudou's, an entire ocean was reflected in them.

The woman sat up and released her son with a big smile of motherly love that made her face rejuvenate as if it were magic, she dried her tears and looked at Kidou, who felt a small drop of sweat run down his forehead.

“Kidou Yuuto, right?”

Fudou turned to see his mother with her eyes fixed on Kidou, who nodded, unable to articulate a word. That brought him back to reality, he felt a bit embarrased, like a normal teenager, of having been seen like that; but it seemed that only Kidou had noticed, and he didn't care that Kidou knew about his most vulnerable side, because Kidou was, after all, Kidou.

"Hibiki told me about you," the woman smiled, approaching the strategist.

“Oh ... do you know the coach ...?”

But Kidou was unable to finish the sentence because the woman also hugged him. Kidou felt a huge embarrassment that started to burn. His face was red and his hands shook not knowing what to do, why did that woman suddenly hug him?

"Thanks for helping Akio find the right way again," she whispered to him so that only Kidou would listen to her.

Kidou lowed his hands, his eyes closed although nobody could see him due to his goggles, a satisfied expression crossed his face before answering.

“Of course, he is my friend.”

But if he hoped that would calm the woman he was wrong, when he heard it the woman began to cry again, although this time they were tears of pure joy.

“Mom!! Fudou approached worried, but she grabbed his son and the two strategists were caught in that joint hug.

Sakuma watched them from afar, when Fudou's mother hugged Kidou he told his Teikoku friends and everyone was smirking..

“Mom! Stop!” Fudou could not help protesting that, like the teenager he was.

“Oh, my little Akio! That he finally has friends.”

“Lady, please …”

But the two teenagers had to protest a good while longer before the woman released them. When she finally let them go, the two teens moved away a little, both had red faces. She was smiling pleasantly, with a mischievous little gleam in her eyes that still kept track of her past pain. Kidou looked at the group, Teikoku team laughed at him in tears.

Fudou shook his head, letting himself fall on the floor, he was exhausted. He couldn't bear any more emotion that day. And by Kidou's sigh as he leaned in beside him, he realized that he too had had enough surprises for a day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to think that when Fudou's mother hugged Kidou, Sakuma took a photo and they mocked him for a while. It was one of my fav parts of this chapter because when you're a teenager this kind of things are so embarrasing and I love to make Kidou embarrased, it's so funny!


	5. Memory 04: Victory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Inazuma Japan wins the Football Frontier International and they are going to party hard. Fudou leaves for a while and Kidou decides to follow him instead of stay in the celebration.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, everyone. I hope you are doing fine.
> 
> Today I bring one of my favourite chapters! I hope you'll like it as much as I do! If you want to support me you can leave Kudos and/or comments! Thanks!

  
“The winner of Football Frontier International is Inazuma Japan !!!”

Inazuma Japan had just beaten Little Gigant in a spectacular match that would be remembered forever. The Japanese team had managed to win the International Frontier Soccer tournament. For the first time in many, many years, Japan claimed a World Cup victory.  
  


A deafening roar took over the stadium at the end of the last half, so close until the very end. A game that had made the audience unable to take their eyes off one moment and held their breath without knowing what the final result would be until the last minute.

All the Inazuma Japan players shouted excitedly when they assimilated that they had won, they cried with happiness hugging each other. Endou was lifted up by his teammates to cheers from his friends and the public. Kidou was no exception, he couldn’t be more happy, they did it! They made it possible! After so much effort, after so much training, after so much sacrifice.

“We did it, Kidou” said a voice very close to his ear, he turned to see Fudou, he was perhaps not as loud as the others but he had tears of happiness in his eyes that showed how important this was to him.

Upon returning his gaze, the boy from the mohican smiled at him and Kidou felt as if lightning struck him. 

It was the first time he saw that bright smile, and he knew that his words meant much more than winning the World Cup, although that was enough by itself. They had succeeded, they had managed to overcome all obstacles, they had managed to leave their storms behind and move towards a bright future. 

  
The dreadlock haired teenager also smiled with happiness, both boys hugged each other to celebrate the victory and in the heat of the moment Kidou grabbed Fudou by the hips, lifted him up and holding him with his arms under his butt. The brown-haired teenager gasped for a few moments at the unexpected gesture, his hands rested on Kidou's shoulders, and he started to laugh infecting Kidou who had never heard him laugh like that. The teenager dropped Fudou onto him and they hugged each other again, their foreheads clashing in affection. Then they realized that all the other companions were running to embrace them again.

"Guys..." murmured the Mohican teenager with a lighter heart than ever; he had no more doubts, he was also a beloved member of the team.

* * *

The celebration moved to a huge pavilion after the awards ceremony, all the Tournament participants were invited by the Japanese as well as the friends and family who had come to cheer them on. 

In the place there were many tables with food and even an improvised dance floor. Everyone had fun: talking, eating, dancing, hugging, crying. Gouenji's father danced with Toramaru's mother, Daisuke had been guided by Endou to his parents who were crying with happiness when they saw him again. Fudou's mother, after hugging her son and making him blush, had gone to eat something and struck up a conversation with an adult who was nearby, whom turned out to be Kidou's stepfather.

The party lasted until very late, although Kidou was not there all the time, Sakuma and Genda saw him leave when they were halfway through and although the goalkeeper went to stop him, Sakuma stopped him knowing the reason why he was leaving.

“Leave him alone, Genda. Kidou goes looking for Fudou.”

“What? Why would he go looking for Fudou?”

Sakuma looked at Genda for a few moments and laughed.

“Haven't you noticed that they eat each other with the eyes?”

The boy scratched his head and shook his head.

“Oh man, do you know what I just remembered?” Narukami commented, he had just come up with glasses of soda that he offered to the other boys who accepted them gratefully, he only heard the latest out of context. “The other day I dreamed that Kidou taking off his goggles and from his eyes sockets appeared a lot of tentacles with jaws that began to bite us all.”

Narukami took a sip of his drink remembering the dream, Genda almost choked on his laughter. While Sakuma looked at him without knowing what to answer to that, but the boy with purple hair continued without realizing it.

“Sometimes I also dream that behind your patch you have a black hole and when you take it off you suck us all into an alternate reality full of giant monster penguins that launch laser beams.”

* * *

Kidou suddenly realized that Fudou was leaving the pavilion without saying anything to anyone. He felt a discomfort lodge deep in his stomach and he couldn't take it off until he decided to go after him a few minutes after he left.

  
He found it on a lonely stone bench that overlooked a cliff among trees that were stirring silently, similar to the viewpoint they had been in a few days before, although this one faced west and it could be seen the beautiful sunset that evening. The shimmering sea with the colors of the sun falling from the sky sang a constant murmur. Fudou seemed calm, his eyes closed until he noticed the other boy and slowly opened them with an amused, even insinuating look. A soft breeze stirred his hair, it was hot but it was no longer oppressive like during the game. That vision stirred Kidou's heart for a moment.

"To what do I owe the honor of your presence, Kidou-kun?"

Kidou sat next to him, saying nothing. Fudou turned to him with a strange expression on his face at that.

"Don't you want to celebrate with the others, Fudou?"

“Bah, they are too noisy and I'm tired.”

The boy with the mohican kept looking with that expression at Kidou who raised an eyebrow without understanding why he was making that face.

“Why have you come looking for me? You did not have to leave the party.”

Kidou shrugged and replied honestly.

“I prefer to be with you.”

Fudou opened his mouth and his ears turned slightly red, not knowing what to say. It was the first time that someone said something like that to him, and although he knew that his friends appreciated him, he did not expect it when he left the celebration overwhelmed by constant stimuli, he did not expect anyone to miss the party for him. His heart was pounding as he stood beside Kidou.

"Flies will get into your mouth if you don't close it," Kidou laughed, turning to watch the sunset.

Neither of them said anything else for a while, they were sitting close together and feeling strangely comfortable like this, as if there was nothing better in the Universe than that time and place. Fudou put his hand on the bench and Kidou did the same thing at the same time, as if they had read minds. Their fingers met on the stone; but none withdrew their hand, perhaps out of pride. It was a nice warm touch. 

“What will you do when we return to Japan, Fudou?”

“I have been thinking about these days, I will request the change of Institute to Teikoku for the remainder of the last year of Middle School. Maybe I can get a scholarship” he was silent for a moment and asked with a slight anxiety “Will you go back to Teikoku?”

“I also want to request the transfer back, but the last time I discussed it with my father, he did not seem happy with the idea, now he believes that the Raimon is a better school for achieving sporting achievements.”

Fudou bit his lips somewhat disappointed, he wished he could go to the Institute with Kidou. His fingers began tapping Kidou's without realizing he was doing it, Kidou held his breath upon noticing it, with a strange comforting and nervous feeling in the pit of his stomach.

“But if you are going to enter the Teikoku I must convince my father of the transfer. If I'm not here to control you… who knows what chaos you will create, I don't want the school to explode or something like that.”

"Well, well," Fudou stuck out his tongue with a wink. “So Kidou-kun thinks it's necessary to keep an eye on me? In that case make sure you do it right, don't you think? Or I could take advantage of it and make your beloved institute burn in a moment of carelessness” Fudou's voice contained a subtle touch of flirtation.

“I won't take my eyes off you for a second.”

Fudou blushed and looked at him sideways, with that feeling in his guts again, he had not eaten in a while but it seemed as if he had something alive running around inside.

“Tsk, with those glasses I don't know if you are telling the truth or not.”

Fudou said that because he would not know if he was looking at him or not, but Kidou furrowed his eyebrows.

"I'm telling the truth," and with a dramatic gesture he removed his goggles with his free hand and put them around his neck. Fudou looked at him mockingly, trying to pretend that his heart hadn't skipped a beat.

Perhaps it was because their fingers became intertwined? The evening sky became more intense, just like the eyes of that russet haired boy who stole his breath and made him forget everything else. The bright sun was beginning to disappear behind the sea that was the color of the brunette boy's eyes, eyes that stopped the world around them.

There was a relaxed atmosphere between them and at the same time charged with that tension that arises when someone feels a deep attraction for other, neither of them understood it well yet, they were too carefree then.

“I think I should thank you, Kidou-kun.”

“Why?”

Fudou laughed and his eyes sparkled with excitement.

“Because my mother can finally smile after so many years. She even said she was proud of me!”

The longing fulfilled that was reflected in his face melted Kidou inside. He knew what it felt like wanting to impress the family and make them proud, he too had lived under that pressure all his life. He was aware of what that recognition meant for the boy after how hard his life became after his father left.

Fudou felt exhilarated that he had managed to take that radical turn in his life in the recent time. His mother would no longer have to cry because of him, she would no longer have to excuse him over and over again at school, she would no longer have to yell at him. They could finally smile and be a close family again, even if it was just the two of them.

“I'm also very proud of you, Fudou. I'm glad we are good friends now.”

Fudou looked up in amazement, losing the thread of his thoughts.

“D-don't say such embarrassing things! Besides, I would not say that we are exactly friends!”

Kidou laughed, knowing that the boy was once again not being honest, and rubbed his laugh at the brown boy.

“So we are not friends?”

Fudou looked at the calm sea, so different from his troubled heart, and snorted with resignation.

“Okay, fine. You're right, there is no point in hiding it, I also consider you my friend. Feel lucky Kidou Yuuto. “

"It is an honor." Kidou blushed slightly despite his sly tone.

“Tsk …”

The hands of the two were still tightly intertwined, although neither dared to mention it, it was not necessary if both were at ease like that.

"I have fond memories of this place," Kidou smiled suddenly. “Although there is still something that can improve it.”

“What?”

Kidou looked at him and for a moment, when their gazes connected, he felt an enormous need to get closer to him, to feel his skin more; a desire that shook his body, but remained firm letting go of that strong sensation.

“Come with me to celebrate our victory with others.”

"Okay, okay" Fudou grumbled. “If you are so excited about it, I will make a little effort for you.”

He went to stand up but Kidou stopped him.

"It doesn't have to be right now, either. We can finish watching the sunset, not every day you can see such a beautiful sunset.”

He just wanted to lengthen that moment and continue holding hands as much as possible. Fudou lost a moment in his red eyes, shrugged without opposition.

“As your majesty commands.”

They remained silent for the rest of the evening, although Fudou dropped, with a yawn, his head on Kidou's shoulder. As the stars began to splash over an already velvety sky the two boys stood up, finally parting their hands with some sadness that they had no excuse to stay that way any longer.

They stretched loudly before turning to head towards the venue.

"Kidou-kun," Fudou suddenly called out to the boy, grabbing him by the wrist.

There was one last thing he wanted to say to him before that atmosphere of connection and intimacy between them disappeared, before he was too embarrassed to be honest with his feelings, before he could think about the kitsch he was going to tell him.

Kidou turned around but without his glasses he did not calculate well the distance between them and only realized that Fudou was so close to him when he was already on him. Their lips came into contact, a small involuntary kiss, Fudou's lips pressed slightly against his before they parted. The brown-haired boy's lips were acid sweet. The russet-haired boy's lips were bitterly sweet.

"So-sorry, it was an accident," Kidou stammered, completely flushed. 

He couldn't feel any more embarrassment, he stiffed without being able to move, only his heartbeat was going at a frenetic pace. Surely Fudou was going to make him pay for that. And the worst part was that he liked that ephemeral contact! If he discovered it ...! They had barely parted and he already wanted to put their lips back together. Why? Why? Why?

"Easy, Kidou," Fudou replied with a soft tone that made him even more afraid, that tone could not bode well.

The brown-haired boy scratched his cheek and looked at him with an expression different from the cold facade he maintained from normal, there was a lot in that look, a deep affection. 

“You know, I was thinking of saying something super corny and not at all proper of me to thank you for everything you have done for me in this time, but I think a kiss is more appropriate.”

Fudou took Kidou's face in his white hands that trembled for a moment with nerves. Kidou who thought the boy was referring to the kiss they just got realized he was wrong. It was one of those times that he didn't mind being wrong at all, it was one of those times that he was glad he was wrong.

Kidou's eyes met his and once again the world stopped around them there was something magical in that instant, something indescribable. They both brought their faces together, joining their lips in a second, much longer kiss. Their hands also met and intertwined their fingers. 

Fudou finally parted, leaving a small bite on Kidou's lower lip with a mischievous smile. They both gasped from that pleasant touch when they turned to look.

"Next time, I’ll kiss you" Kidou murmured, not quite knowing why he said that and surprising himself when he heard his own words.

Fudou opened his eyes and laughed, although inside he was nervous about that comment, that meant that there would be at least another kiss and that was something unexpectedly encouraging. The russet-haired boy laughed too and gave him a push to get them back together with their other friends to celebrate Inazuma Japan's victory.

That day was unforgettable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One of my favourite parts of the chapter is imagining Sakuma's face after hearing Narukami's dreams. But the first one is the whole scenne with my two boys in the cliff :,) Sunsets are so romantic, I love them.


	6. Memory 05: End of summer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summer is ending. Fudou and his mother move to Inazuma so Fudou can enter Teikoku School. That afternoon he is going to meet some os his friend febore classes start again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter starts the last year of middle school arc. I hope you'll like it! If you are liking my story I'd apreciate kudous/comments to cheer my up! :D Thanks!

Summer was coming to an end and with it the return to normality of the day to day after the adventures of the group of teenagers on Liocott Island. Fudou looked out the open window of his room from which the breeze of change was beginning to enter. He sighed letting the wind rock his hair, he had stopped shaving his head to zero, although he continued to wear his mohicano longer than the rest of the hair.

As soon as they returned to Japan, the boy talked to his mother about his interest in entering Teikoku to finish the third year of middle school. That surprised the woman at first, since Teikoku was one of the most prestigious institutes in the entire country and only the best students or those with great sporting merits achieved a place. Of course, if she thought about it, leading Japan to victory in an international tournament was a great sporting achievement.

Both traveled to Inazuma from Ehime, to make the registration request. Fudou was immediately accepted for sporting merit and a perfect entrance exam. Fudou's mother meanwhile pulled a few strings to achieve a change of destiny to the city at work, she was also granted her request.  
  
They moved into a small apartment in the last days of vacation before going back to school. It was a somewhat old building and the area was not very good, but they had not found anything better that fit the woman's salary, living in the city was more expensive than in a province.

* * *

'I'm leaving, Mom, I meet this afternoon” announced Fudou out of his room.

Her mother was relocating some decorative objects in the living room, she did not quite like how they looked in their new house.

“Are you meeting Yuuto?” she asked with a mischievous smile.

Fudou eyed her suspiciously, his ears turning red.

“Yes,why?”

"You've dressed well" she observed. “You don't usually dress that well.”

Fudou protested because that comment and after saying goodbye he left at a fast pace.  
  
Kidou as soon as he found out that Fudou was moving to Inazuma asked him to meet some day before going back to school, but with the move the boy couldn’t meet until that day. That afternoon they arranged to meet several friends to show the newcomer teenage the shopping area of the city. Fudou was a little nervous because it was the first time he would met someone to just have fun, it was something totally new for him.

Fudou arrived at the meeting point a little over the hour, he still did not control the transports of the city. When he arrived he only saw Kidou wearing a half-unbuttoned white shirt, red clothed shorts with suspenders and black sandals, plus of course his blue goggles. Kidou saw him from a distance and stared at his friend expectantly, wearing a brightly colored tight-fitting T-shirt, pirate black tight-fitting pants and tall vans, he had grown his hair; he was very handsome; Kidou shook his head to remove that thought and greeted him.

"Haven't the others arrived yet?" the brunette boy was surprised, Kidou made a strange gesture with his face that did not go unnoticed and then Fudou smiled amused. “Don't tell me it was all a ploy to have a date with me.”

Kidou raised his eyebrows and sighed heavily.

“Something like that actually.”

Fudou opened his mouth in disbelief, his face rose in color and he felt a gurgle in his stomach, although it deflated as quickly as it had inflated.

“I want to talk to you about some things before the others arrive. Come, let's have a cold drink while we wait for them.”

Kidou tapped him on the arm. Fudou followed in silence somewhat disappointed; he was beginning to be slightly aware that he was attracted to the boy in a different way than would be expected from a friendship, but then he said to himself that it was because they were best friends, or at least that was how it was for Fudou.

They arrived at an ice cream shop on the main street with round tables inside and decorated with summer themes. Kidou ordered an iced tea and Fudou a strawberry and banana smoothie with extra cream and oreo shavings on top. They sat around one of the tables, in a corner, and didn't speak for a while, enjoying their respective drinks before Fudou, his mouth full of cream, turned to Kidou.

“And what do you want to talk to me about, Kidou-kun?”

Kidou left his drink on the table after stirring the ice cubes, put his fingertips together, and watched Fudou's smudged lips with amusement before turning serious again.

"I found out that you achieved a place in Teikoku" Fudou nodded without surprise, he didn’t tell anyone because they would find out when classes started again “Your entrance exam is impeccable, perfect.”

Fudou slightly wrinkled his nose, he didn’t expect anyone to know it.

“So?“

Kidou looked at him intently and Fudou shifted in his chair slightly uncomfortable, decided to take another sip of his smoothie.

“I also took the exam a few days ago.”

The boy raised his turquoise eyes from the smoothie with a sparkle of joy, and couldn't help but make his voice sound slightly excited for an instant.

“Are you returning to Teikoku?”

The goggle boy's eyebrows twitched in sadness and Fudou blinked in confusion.

“No, I won’t enter Teikoku. My father does not allow me, he says that I must finish this year at Raimon. Then I will be able to enter the Teikoku High School, if I can get in …”

Fudou's eyes showed how disappointed he was with that, although he suddenly furrowed his eyebrows.

“If you can get in?” An astonished grimace appeared on his face and he laughed before commenting mockingly. “Was your exam so bad?”

"Well ..." Kidou seemed suddenly uncomfortable and it was his turn to move in the seat, "yes."

Fudou continued to laugh at the growing annoyance of Kidou who had crossed his arms and was looking at his friend with an angry grin, even grinding his teeth.

"If you keep laughing, I'm going to ..." Kidou threatened, but it took a while for the boy to stop laughing.

“Let's see, surprise me with your note, being an insufferable know-it-all like you, I calculate that you have obtained between 90% and 94% and even so it seems unworthy to someone of your level.”

Kidou sighed.

"I'm not an insufferable know-it-all," Kidou growled.

"Sure," Fudou rolled his eyes, "and your pants aren't red."

"They’re scarlet" the boy corrected immediately, making Fudou laugh again.

"What I was saying, an insufferable know-it-all." Fudou's smile widened when he saw Kidou's angry expression. “Don't be mad, it's just the truth Kidou-kun. Besides, I like you like that.” He immediately realized that this was not a normal comment, his friend's face turned red and he had even flinched, so he added quickly. “Each one has a role, I like you as a know-it-all guy, I like Endou as a tireless soccer maniac and I like Sakuma as a pirate.”

Kidou blinked and nodded, his heart was racing, he breathed slowly. No, he didn't have to imagine strange things. Why did he always feel like that with Fudou? 

The boy in glasses snorted and rubbed his temples with his fingers, he had to focus.

“78 points.”

Fudou, who had given a sip of his shake to try to lower the internal heat due to his blunder, spat the drink on the table when he heard the number. Kidou didn't even bother to make a face of disgust while the brown-haired boy rushed to clean the mess with paper napkins. Fudou realized that he did not know how to answer that, he would love to be able to tease him but he was too stumped for it, that note was really embarrassing.

“Sounds like someone had a bad day, huh?” he finally said scratching his head.

“No, I didn't have a bad day. It's because of Raimon,” Kidou growled. “Raimon has a much lower academic level than Teikoku and I relaxed too much” The boy raised his hands to his eyes, covered his face and gave a grunt of exasperation. “The High School entrance exam is much more difficult, and they don't accept anyone with grades below 80.”

"And you're telling me this because ..." His turquoise eyes looked at him with intrigue.

Kidou lowered his arms, smoothed his face, took a deep breath and answered with difficulty due to his pride.

“I want you to give me private lessons.”

Those words triggered a hysterical laugh in Fudou, he began to laugh so loudly that all the other clients of the establishment looked at them badly, and even left his side. Kidou pursed his lips, visibly upset once again. Next to him, his friend started banging on the table and seemed to be about to drown from the broken sounds mixed with laughter.

"I love your sense of humor," Fudou finally sighed when he was able to calm down, leaning back in the chair, his face red from laughing, his eyes shining in the same suggestive way as on the cliff of Liocott Island.

"I'm not kidding, Fudou," and before he started laughing again, he added, lowering his glasses and showing a look of hurt pride. “Please.”

And that was enough for Fudou to really believe that he was not kidding him and to remain silent for a few moments observing his eyes, as beautiful as he remembered.

“Kidou, if you want private lessons, you better go to a real academy.”

He denied with his head.

“I already thought about that possibility, I even looked at some academies ... But they do not convince me, they are not good enough.”

Fudou raised his eyebrows.

“And do you think I will be better than a professional?” The boy pursed his lips and added without humility. “I know I am good, but I have never taught anyone.”

"I think so." Kidou leaned back in his chair. “I asked the different professors of the Private Academies to take the Teikoku entrance exam, and none of them got a 100, the most they got were 92 points.”

Fudou's eyes widened in disbelief.

"Teikoku's entrance exam is very well designed," Kidou continued. Few people manage to get more of 90 points and even less 95, only other one had managed to make it perfect in the last years, and it was me. When a person got that mark, it is because he is a genius, and in Teikoku they like geniuses. It is an elite school after all.

Fudou was thoughtful, remembering his exam, some questions were somewhat more complex than the rest, they needed observation and analysis skills, at the same time logical development skill and some inventiveness to solve. It wasn’t particularly difficult for Fudou to answer them.

“That's why I know that you can help me the best.”

Fudou sighed and ran his hand slowly over his eyes, pondering that.

“Of course, I'll pay you for the classes.”

Fudou's white hand slid down his face, revealing his eyes again, completely puzzled.

“Huh? Pa-pay me?”

“Yes. I do not want you to do it as a personal favor, because then it will not be a priority and we will start to put it aside for soccer training.”

Fudou closed his eyes analyzing the situation with an expression of deep meditation, Kidou observed how the boy thought about that possibility and smiled to himself, knowing that he would say yes after making him beg several times.

When the teenager opened his eyes, they had that mischievous and flirtatious glow.

“I don't know, Kidou. I'm not sure you are at the same level to my teaching skills.”

The boy in glasses gave a sudden laugh.

“I'm sure I can lower my level to follow you as a teacher.”

Fudou snorted and ruffled his hair with a mocking grimace making Kidou forget to breathe for a few moments, unable to take his eyes off him. The brown-haired man jabbed him in the cheek with his finger practically lying on top of him in the chair to annoy him.

“You'll have to pay me a lot, you know? My great abilities are priced expensive today.”

“I'm sure we can reach an agreement. But in return you will have to make sure you spend enough hours with me.”

The russet-haired boy whispered that into his ear, making a shiver run through the brunette's body and make his ears turn red. Fudou turned away from the boy with a racing heart and Kidou punched him gently on the shoulder with a smile. 

“So?”

Fudou blinked, while they were so close he became very nervous. He felt that enormous attraction for him and he couldn't resist it, he couldn't take his eyes off his lips, his eyelashes, his laughter, his fingers, his gaze.

“Okay, Kidou-kun, I will teach you, but you will have to call me Professor Fudou.”

“No.”

"Tsk.. fine, I had to try." Fudou shrugged.

* * *

  
After finishing their drinks and checking the time, the two strategists left the place and went to the entrance of the largest Sports Shop in the city, where they met some more friends. They arrived on time, Sakuma, Genda, Oono and Jimon were already at the door talking to each other but quite a few members of the Teikoku team that had once captained Kidou were still missing.   
  
The afternoon passed happily, after seeing the shopping area in a hurry and buying some necessary things for their teams, they ended up in the arcades, where Gojou was undefeated winner in a somewhat old-fashioned fighting game that he preferred to call retro while Narukami beat the record for a dance game he had set a year earlier. When they came out the sun was setting, they all decided to go to dinner together at Hibiki’s restaurant. 

“So you're going to come to Teikoku with us, huh, Fudou?” Genda had changed his attitude towards Fudou so much that sometimes he even found it difficult to understand that he was addressing him.

"Yes," he replied, only moving his chopsticks by his bowl.

"The only one who is left is Kidou” Henmi muttered with disappointment.

The boy, sitting between Fudou and Sakiyama shrugged.  
“My father believes that Raimon is the best place to make merits because everyone sees Endou as a hero and me as his right hand.”

"Kidou, man, we’re going to think that you have fallen in love with that Endou with all that thing about the light and freedom," muttered Narukami, who was certainly not very observant.

Fudou began to cough as he choked on the soup he drank. Sakuma sighed as everyone laughed. Kidou did not distirb at the comment and crossed his arms responding with a grimace of displeasure.

“I'm not in love with Endou, besides I really want to go back to Teikoku with you, I will do it in High School next year.”

Then he turned to pat Fudou on the back, who was still coughing. Hibiki who had stepped up to leave a new order from Doumen and who was rather more observant due to his experience wagged his mustache.

“Oh love ... sometimes it is pretty bastard.”

And as if he did not care, he ruffled Fudou's hair, who immediately began to protest, a gesture that only Sakuma understood and made him laugh silently, although then he looked at Genda warmly, thinking deeply. 

  
At the end they said goodbye to each other, each leaving in different directions. Kidou accompanied Fudou to his house to make sure that he arrived well on that journey. They walked, simply enjoying the warm late summer wind that moved their clothes and hair as they went. A wind that for the brown boy whispered the end of a cycle of anguish and confusion and the beginning of a new, brilliant one, together with his mother and his friends.   
  
A leaf that lonely surfed the drafts perched on Fudou's shoulder as they reached the door of his building, Kidou picked it up and looked at it for a few moments in surprise. 

“It's just a ginkgo leaf, Kidou-kun.”

The boy nodded and took one of his friend's hands to put it on it.

“Keep it, it bodes well.”  
And he left with a hand gesture entering a car that was waiting for him, since he asked to be picked there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If someone didn't know, ginkgo leafs are said to carry good luck as the Ginkgo Tree is a symbol of reborn.
> 
> Thanks for reading. See you on Sunday~


	7. Memory 06: The new Teikoku

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The registrations for the new Football Frontier tournament are open and Sakuma who is Teikoku's Captain comes to give the news to his team, which has new members.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really liked writing this chapter, a bit more Sakuma and Genda focused. It was fun to think about how the new Teikoku Team could be and interact. I have always had the headcanon that Jimon, Banjou, Oono and Gojou are one year older than Kidou, Sakuma and Genda. So they graduated by now.
> 
> I chose Haizaki to be in Teikoku because I truly think that Teikoku would have been better for him. Also Mizukamiya because why not? Better they go together. The other members are in fact members of Teikoku even if Shimerigawa is only in Ares and the others are reserves in the games (I like Ena and Ookusu).

Sakuma came running to Teikoku training camp, looked excited, he had papers in hand that he waved above his head while calling his team.

“Guys! Guys! Registrations have opened!”

The teens passing the ball to each other immediately stopped when they heard the voice of their captain, a ball thrown late hit a tall boy with long gray hair in the head.

“Oh! Who threw that damn ball? I'm going to kill him! Hey! Hey! Don't ignore me!”

But everyone had made a circle around Sakuma, Genda approached and Sakuma passed the papers so that he could see them.

“Why are you so excited, Sakuma?” Fudou growled, folding his arms. “Teikoku has been participating for forty years and thirty-nine winning Frontier Soccer.”

“But this will be the first time without Kageyama.”

A murmur of excitement ran through the group and the gray-haired boy they had ignored approached, grabbing Narukami by the shoulder and pushing him to make his way.

“Hey you!” the boy protested.

“And who is that damn Kageyama?”

“Do we already have a coach?” Henmi asked taking a step forward.

Sakuma looked up from the papers and smiled, as if it had cost him enormously to keep that secret until someone asked and found it especially pleasant to give the good news.

“Yes.”

A new murmur spread among the players.

“Who is?” Doumen asked excitedly.

"I hope no one with a criminal record," Sakiyama murmured.

"Our coach will be…" Sakuma's smile deepened and he turned to signal a person who was waiting in the darkness of the hallway that led to the changing rooms.

A tall, handsome man with purple hair covering his left eye and a short beard emerged with a slow, dramatic stride.

“... Kudou Michiya.”

The excitement that ran through the members of Teikoku no longer remained in simple murmurs, they had begun to raise their voices at the growing emotion of having the coach who led the country to victory in the World Cup.

"Glad to see you again, coach Kudou," Sakuma commented, handing him the papers he was carrying but the man refused to accept.

He narrowed his eyes at his players.

“Silence.”

And immediately, there was a deathly silence, all the players except the long-haired rookie and Fudou stopped in a military salute. The coach seemed surprised by this and coughed a little to disguise it.

“I am here to lead you to victory and I will not tolerate anything else. Do you understand?”

“Sir, yes sir!” the teenagers replied as a single voice.

“This team still has a long way to go to be the best in the country, don't let your past victories go to your head; neither having won Football Frontier previously nor having helped win the World Cup exempts you from training hard, you will have to prove your worth if you want to be part of the starting eleven.”

“Sir, yes sir!” the boys repeated again.

Kudou shook his head.

“And stop calling me sir, call me coach.”

“Coach, yes, coach!”

Kudou sighed heavily and ran his hands over his eyes for a moment. At least those guys seemed formal, or at least ... most. His eyes fixed on Fudou who was with his hands on his hips and a half mocking smile and on the first year boy who had a troublesome face. How wrong was the good man.   
At that moment another boy entered the field, first-year with a haughty appearance and light brown hair combed like a helmet.

“Is this where you play football?”

"No," said Fudou mockingly. “This is where we plant potatoes.”

Almost everyone laughed at the comment, Kudou ignored them both and continued.

“Okay, today's training will consist of a match between you, Sakuma takes out the papers to divide the team. Those who take the paper marked in red will be in team A, and those who take the white in team B.”

After the draw for the two teams the boys lined up on the field. Fudou looked at his momentary companions, Genda stayed at his side, something that seemed to have bothered Sakuma who was on the opposite team and who did not seem to approve of the substitute goalkeeper: the first-year boy who was late and didn’t stop asking for special treatment because his father was someone important. The other long-haired first-year boy who kept growling at everything was in the team too.    
  
From the goal Genda looked with compassionate eyes on his dear friend and captain of Teikoku. Then he shook his face and focused, the training was going to start.

Kudou looked at the alignment and nodded.

“Sakuma Jirou and Genda Koujirou are the captains of your respective teams. Begin.”

He blew a whistle and the game started immediately. 

With a tyrannosaurus with bronchitis-like roar the first-year long gray-haired boy went for the ball, shoving another first-year boy playing on Fudou's team and running straight into the goal.

“Haizaki! Stop, Haizaki!” shouted Sakuma, running to catch up with him.

“Shut up!”

Fudou moved out of the way of the striker, crossing his arms and watching with curiosity, analyzing the boy who trampled with all those who stood in his way until only Genda was between the goal and him.

Haizaki stepped in front of him, put two fingers to his mouth, and let out a loud whistle as he leapt into the air, causing six penguins to appear, spinning like drills against the ball. 

“Overhead penguin!” cried the boy furiously, kicking to the goal.

Genda was not intimidated and prepared to stop the ball, raised his right arm and created a huge drill with which he prepared to stop the shot. But the goalkeeper's technique was not enough and the ball ended up scoring a goal.

A macabre smile appeared on Haizaki's face just before Sakuma faced him.

“Haizaki, that behavior is horrible, you have to play as a team” the boy looked at Sakuma with disdain and did as he spit “Haizaki!”

“Hey you!” Genda was angered to see how the rookie was treating the captain and left the goal.

Everyone started to surround them with screams, Fudou watched with amusement and in the end he couldn't help but comment sarcastically.

“What a luck, we have an imbecile.”

Haizaki's eyes narrowed and he turned to Fudou, despite being two years younger he was quite taller and didn't seem to be used to being confronted.

“What have you said?” It was obviously a rhetorical question, whose sole purpose was to intimidate, not be answered; but Fudou smirked as he repeated vocalizing exaggerated to annoy him further.

“I said: what a luck, we have an imbecile. In case you can’t deduce it by yourself, the imbecile is you.”   
This greatly altered Haizaki who threw himself at Fudou with the clear intention of hitting him. Sakuma had to get in the middle with the help of Henmi and Sakiyama and stop not only Haizaki to separate him from Fudou but also Genda and Narukami who joined the fight.

“Stop!” Sakuma shouted, on the verge of tears of anger. “Is this how you want us to win Football Frontier? We have to play as a team and collaborate with each other! Fudou, please do not insult your classmates even if they deserve it.”

Fudou shrugged, although he didn't show any disturbance and kept a calm posture inside his blood was boiling. Haizaki furrowed his eyebrows even more because he realized that this was also an insult to him.

“Narukami you are too short to get into fights. I forbid you to fight with people taller than you!”

“I've grown two centimeters this summer!”

“Shut up, hobbit. Genda, please! I'm counting on you to keep order, you can't react like that at the first change.”

"I’m sorry, Sakuma." Genda seemed really sorry. “It won't happen again.”

But everyone who knew Genda knew it was a lie, as soon as someone insulted Sakuma again, Genda would jump again to hit whoever did.

“Shimerigawa ...! My God, what a horrible name, I don't know if your name or your hairstyle is uglier. Please close your mouth! If you name your father again, I swear I'll punch you in that dull face you have.”

“I’m going to tell my father …”

Sakuma snorted at the boy who backed away and crossed his arms, starting to say something in a low voice behind everyone's back, something that sounded several times to "my father".

“And you, Haizaki! If you want to play, you better learn to play as a team, otherwise you will be sitting on the bench longer than Fudou during the Football Frontier International.”

“Hey!” Fudou protested. “I was the ace under the sleeve of the team, this asshole only serves to make shampoo ads.”

“Repeat that if you dare!” Haizaki roared, facing Fudou again.

“Go to your positions to continue the match!” Sakuma ordered, grabbing Fudou away from the other boy and whispering to him. “Fudou, don't provoke him anymore.”

“Why? It's fun to watch him lose his nerve.”

Sakuma looked at him in exasperation and returned to his position as striker for his team.

Kudou watched everything carefully without saying anything, taking notes from the players. The whistle blew again.

The other first-year striker, Ena, kicked the ball to his teammate, Ookusu, with fear of Haizaki who threw himself back for the ball in a way that reminded Fudou of Kabeyama at dinner time.

Sakuma missed the presence of the players, and great friends of his, from the third year, most of them were defenders and it was noted how the team had weakened in that area despite the incorporation of a boy who had moved from another school named Mizukamiya and two especially stout boys who were in the Teikoku reserve until then.

When the game ended Sakuma was on the verge of a nervous breakdown, that was worse than disastrous, how could they be considered a good team in this way? The boy did not know who was worse, the weeping goalkeeper or the stupid striker. The rest of the team could work after a few group workouts even though Ena seemed to have been scared of Haizaki, but those two…!

Sakuma went straight to the showers with the joy with which he had started training by the feet, which he dragged like a soul in pain.

"Great power carries great responsibility, eh, captain?" Fudou laughed, causing Sakuma to yell in exasperation and Genda to hit him on the head.

* * *

The next day, Sakuma appeared at the training field with renewed strength, after a good night's rest and talking to Genda during the meal about the team, he was again filled with an optimistic spirit.

  
The team gathered at the training ground, Sakuma was firmly standing next to Kudou who began to speak seriously.

“Well, yesterday you gave an unfortunate show, I hope that today there will be no problem during training.”

Sakuma sighed, he expected it too. The coach sent them running around the field to start and then a series of passes in groups of three. After a sequence of one hundred passes, they changed groups.

“You don't know how to shoot a damn ball!”

Sakuma turned when he heard Haizaki's scream, which was shouting at Ena, who was totally scared and trembled like a leaf. The boy sighed heavily, while Doumen, the third person in the group tried to calm both of them without much success.

A loud snort on his other side made him look in that direction to see Shimerigawa protesting and arrogantly telling Fudou that his father was going to find out about something the strategist would have done.

“Close your damn mouth, Shimewhining.” 

“My name is Shimerigawa!”

“What I said, Shimewhining.”

Sakuma covered his mouth, despite the frustration he couldn't help but giggle, he was amused by the nickname, really the substitute goalkeeper had earned the whining, he was doing nothing but whining and complaining. He tried to encourage himself thinking that at least with Genda on the team it would be very difficult for them to need the services of Shimerigawa.

The training ended hours later, although unfortunately for Sakuma, it ended with Haizaki and Henmi fighting loudly and Shimerigawa, whom the rest of the team had started calling Shimewhining, making Narukami lose his nerves and punched him in the nose. As punishment Kudou made him run around the field twenty times. Sakuma suspected that he was not harsher on the punishment because the coach would also have wanted to punch him.

* * *

The captain of the Teikoku came out of the shower with his head down wondering what he was worth as a captain if he was unable to bring order during a simple training session. Genda to cheer him up grabbed him by the shoulder to propose something.

“How about we go for a walk, Sakuma? It will do you good to cheer up yourself.”

"Yes, that's fine with me," he replied, feeling more comforted under the keeper's arm.

“Are you coming, Fudou?”

“No, I'm meeting Kidou.”

Several heads turned to Fudou who felt himself blush at the pressure of the eyes, especially from the mocking Sakuma threw at him.

“You won't tell him about any of our strategies, right?” Narukami asked.   
“Strategies? Do you mean the one of crying away from the balls in the goal or the one of sweeping the field like a brawny asphalt painter?”

Teikoku's friends laughed.

"Tell Kidou to come, too," Genda suggested. “Is anyone else coming?”

Narukami and Doumen joined the group immediately, but Henmi was unable that day and Sakiyama had gone home. Of the rest of the team that remained in the locker room no one seemed interested.

Fudou tried to get away, Kidou had asked him to start private lessons that day; but he had seriously threatened him not to tell anyone about it.

As Genda did not accept Fudou's excuse, he ended up calling Kidou and convinced him to join them.

* * *

Kidou joined the group half an hour later and they all went to the Inazuma riverside, where they lay down on the grass while talking about the first days of school after the summer holidays.

“How about the Teikoku team this year?” Kidou asked his companions, noticing how they all snorted at the same time he raised his eyebrows “Is it so bad?”

“We have won the double lottery!” Narukami exclaimed. “We have an imbecile substitute goalkeeper and an asshole who does not know how to play as a team and who thinks he is the best striker in the world.”

"I thought we weren't going to tell Kidou-kun about our strategies, Narukami," Fudou scoffed, causing the purple-haired boy to blush and splutter an excuse.

"Well, the Raimon team is unstoppable," Kidou commented with a smile. “If you are not careful we will win the Football Frontier again.”

"That will have to be seen," Genda stung, sitting up and looking at Kidou with combative eyes.

“Why don't we bet?” Narukami suggested, Teikoku's group, except Sakuma, seconded that.

Kidou thought for a few moments and they agreed that they would talk to Raimon to make a proper bet between the two teams.

"Anyway, I heard that the guys at Sun Garden have formed their own team," Kidou commented after a while. “A team with Tatsuya, Midorikawa, Saginuma, Reina, Nagumo and Suzuno among other players ... They will be a difficult opponent.”   
“What is life without challenges?” Fudou commented winking at Kidou.

But they all agreed that that team would be a tough opponent to beat if they managed to win the regional phase in their area, which in truth, no one doubted they would do.   
  


They continued talking for a long time, although the conversations were constantly redirected to soccer.

"I really want to know who we will face in the first match," Doumen smiled excitedly.

"I hope it's not against Raimon," sighed Sakuma depressed.

Fudou narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. Ever since he had seen Haizaki's attitude he had been thinking about an idea, he thought he knew a way that would lower his ego so that he could start playing as a team. There was one person ... no, two people who could perhaps do it.

“It really wouldn't hurt to play a friendly match between Teikoku and Raimon before the tournament, don't you think? Two great rivals destined to meet once again in the finals,” murmured Fudou. “In addition, for some of Teikoku players it will not hurt a real match for reality.”

Everyone looked at Fudou and then Kidou, Kidou thought about it.

“I think it may be a good idea, I'm sure Endou’ll accept without thinking.”

"But we will make a condition," Fudou smiled. “I want someone special to play.”

Sakuma narrowed his eyes.

“What are you up to, Fudou?”  
  


* * *

When it got dark the boys divided to go back to their houses. Sakuma walked thoughtfully with Genda at his side, they were both neighbors and they always made the walks together. Genda could see the frustration the boy was trying to hide from others.

“Jirou …”

Sakuma stopped and looked at his surprised friend, despite being childhood friends he rarely called him by his first name.

Genda put his hand on his shoulder, his eyes twinkling with intensity.

“You're a good captain, Jirou. I believe in you more than in any other person.”

Those words managed to comfort the teenager like a bandage on a wound, warm and soft, loaded with feeling, they went straight to his heart.

"Thank you…" Sakuma looked away, embarrassed, ashamed of not being able to meet the expectations as captain, ashamed of worrying his best friend, ashamed of not being able to avoid feeling disgraceful to Teikoku.

“Jirou …” Genda moved closer to him taking him by the cheeks, his eyes connected in an emotional discharge, Genda's lips were only a few inches from Sakuma's and the boy felt a strong throbbing in his chest, drunk by the blue gaze of him. “You are the best captain I could ever dream of, you are an excellent player, intelligent and reliable, you will be able to unite the team; begin to believe a little more in yourself as I believe in you.”

Both boys moved a little closer, but when their lips were about to touch Genda fell back and shook his head, Sakuma released his held breath with a huge disappointment inside. But Genda seemed scared.

"S-sorry, I ... I don't know what happened to me." He scratched his head, visibly confused, felt a shudder and looked at Sakuma again with some fear. “You don't hate me, do you?”

The tousled-haired boy's gaze shook Sakuma like a mace to a gong, he blinked hard before he could get back and sigh tenderly.

"I could never hate you, Koujirou," he murmured, looking away trying to calm his heart; After all, Genda was the most important person in his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! The next two chapters are Raimon vs Teikoku match and I'll upload them together, so this Wednesday there'll be double chapter!
> 
> If you like the story don't be shy to leave a Kudou or a comment! I'd love to read what you think about it this far! Which are your favourite moments for example? 
> 
> See you on Wednesday~


	8. Memory 07: Raimon vs Teikoku 1st part

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Kidou's first private leasson with Fudou it's time for the match between Raimon and Teikoku. Would Teikoku manage to make Haizaki play as a team?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! As I told on Sunday today I'll update with two chapters, the two chapters that cover the match. It's not so interesting (to me at least) as other chapters but I tried my best!

Between some things and others, and even though Kidou wanted to take his private lessons as a priority, the boy could not make time again until two weeks after once finished soccer training.   
  
That same day Kudou approached the team with Sakuma at his side quite excited despite trying to hide it.

“The groups for the regional phases of Football Frontier are out!” Sakuma exclaimed the moment Kudou had the team formed, before the man could even say anything.

That news was greeted with great joy by most of them, Fudou realized that despite Sakuma's excitement the boy was glaring at Haizaki and Shimewhining. Kudou cleared his throat and there was silence immediately.

“Listen carefully, we have several news to tell you. First of all, as your Captain has told you, the groups for the regional phase of Football Frontier have already been released.”

Everyone listened in silence, although inside they vibrated with expectation.

“Due to the increasing number of teams after Japan's victory at the FFI this year they have decided to divide the Kanto section into four blocks of five teams.”

The boys kept listening, waiting for the moment when they were really told who their first rival would be.

“Only two teams will go to the nationals, once the winners of the different blocks are known through a scoring system, two more matches will be played, A against B and C against D. Those who win those matches will be the ones who go ahead.”

Kudou paused and continued to pull out a printed sheet with the team names in blocks.

They all approached immediately carried away by the excitement of knowing which rivals they would play against. 

Teikoku was in block C, same to the Kidokawa, the Occult and two other institutes that they did not know. 

"Raimon is in Block B," Henmi observed. “It seems that we will not be able to face them unless we both reach the final of the tournament.”

The companions commented something about it but then Kudou spoke again.

“Regarding that, Raimon has asked us for a friendly match before the tournament begins. Next week, on Sunday. Of course I have accepted, even though they are going to include a player who does not actually play in Raimon yet.”

Kudou's eyes went straight to Fudou and he knew that he knew that it was his idea. Some protested at this but fell silent as soon as the coach spoke again.

“Train hard until the match, even if it is a friendly match, Raimon is the favorite team due to its surprising victory during the tournament last year and for having a large part of the players of the Japanese team. Winning Raimon in a friendly match can make us regain quite a lot of popularity.”

They all screamed motivated by the game.

“Well, going back to Football Frontier... Official matches will start on the first Saturday of October, since then there will be one match per week for 5 weeks. Your first opponent will be …”

The coach continued explaining what they needed to know about the dynamics of the matches, after finishing he sent them to train.

“Today I want an all against all in the field. Genda and Shimewhi... Shimerigawa will be in the goals, your objective is to score as many goals as you can with one condition, you cannot shoot the same goal twice in a row. Whoever scores the most goals will have a special prize, but if one of the goalkeepers stops more of his shots than he scores, then the goalkeeper will win. Is it clear? Well, go ahead. ”Then he addressed the team managers. “You will keep count of the goals.”

* * *

When Fudou came out of the shower fixing his uniform and quickly picking up his things to go to the meeting point with Kidou, he thought that if he had to define with a word the training that afternoon it would be "spectacular". Because what a show the team gave. He said goodbye to the others before Genda had time to ask him to stay with them to cheer on Sakuma, who was still in the shower perhaps hoping to drown. Fudou could not reproach him if he did so. The training was really pathetic.

Upon reaching the meeting point he saw Kidou in Raimon uniform waiting, he seemed impatient. Fudou asked himself if Kidou as a captain could handle that gang of savages better than Sakuma. 

“Hey, Kidou.”

“You're late, Fudou.”

"I'm glad to see you, too," growled the boy, grinning.

Kidou sighed and touched his arm to signal him to follow him, they had both decided to go to the home of the Raimon strategist for the study session. Fudou felt his nerves make him sweat, he was going to be alone with Kidou, and no less than in his room.

“How are the progress in the Teikoku team?” Kidou asked curiously as they walked towards the subway stop that would take them to his house.

Fudou touched his chin pretending to be meditating.

“I'm sure we will astonish you on Sunday.”

Kidou laughed. 

“It is difficult to astonish me… in any case, I am looking forward to the match.”

“We too, in fact Sakuma is dying for that day to come.”

“Is he having difficulties as captain? “

“That's classified information, if you want me to speak you will have to give me something in return” his tone of voice changed so drastically from a mocking tone to one worthy of the worst of the casanovas that Kidou laughed, looking at Fudou with interest, whose eyes were staring at him.

The study session gave Kidou plenty of opportunities to keep looking at Fudou's turquoise eyes, which was not too good for his concentration. Just as it was not good how Fudou brushed his hand every time he took the pen to explain something to him in the middle of an exercise, nor his breathing in his ear when leaning over him.

Fudou turned out to be a much better teacher than himself expected, which surprised him because, despite boasting with his wonderful abilities, he always believed that after the first session Kidou would tell him that he would do without his academic support, something that did not happen.

The class got off to a slow start because Fudou was slow to sit down next to Kidou, first walking around the house and then his friend's room rummaging through his things. In fact, Kidou had to remove a photo from his hands and force him to sit with him at the study table. 

“Well, well, Kidou-kun. So you sleep with a photo of me.”

Kidou huffed as he placed the books on the table.

“It's a photo of the Team and I don't sleep with it.”

  
Once in a while, though, he couldn't stop Fudou from escaping into the kitchen and coming back with different sweets on each visit.

“This is life, Kidou-kun. I don't know how you can stand sitting there with so much food in your pantry. Don't you want to adopt me?”

"No," Kidou snorted and grabbed him, sitting him down next to him, leaving his hand on the boy's shoulder as he explained the math exercises.

At the end of the session Kidou rubbed his eyes and leaned back in the chair, extending his neck.

“You are good teacher, Fudou.”

The boy who at the time had his mouth full of several shortbread biscuits mumbled something blushing. Kidou smiled and Fudou felt his eyes on him, making it even more difficult to swallow the cookies. 

  
Kidou accompanied him to his home in the family limousine, before Fudou got off he grabbed his wrist and held him. Fudou turned questioningly. Although he flinched when one of Kidou's fingers caressed his skin underneath his clothes.

“See you at the game next week, Fudou” Kidou paused and looked intently at the boy through the glasses “Are you sure you can play without me?”

Fudou smirked.

"I think I can manage." Then, putting on a strangely serious face, he got out of the car, and before closing the door, added. “But I'd rather have you as a partner than as a rival.”

* * *

The day of the game against Raimon finally arrived, they would play on the soccer field of this team and the boys from Teikoku were eagerly waiting for their caravan to reach the institute.

Fudou was folding his arms, sitting, especially thoughtful. Next to him sat the blue-haired defender who had gained great popularity among Teikoku students and who at that time was competing with Genda for the most popular boy position at the Institute. Which apparently both did not care.

Genda was sitting next to Sakuma, both of them very serious. Genda remembered the instructions that Fudou had given the team for that match. It was going to be the hardest game of his life.

Upon reaching the Raimon they were greeted with cheers and whistles, although not as many as those of Raimon himself. After a moment of joyous reunion between the two teams, each of them moved to their side of the playing field.

They heard Endou cheer on their team and as everyone responded imbued with that force that made Endou an admirable captain.

“Guys” Sakuma gathered the Teikoku, the new members did not take their eyes off the players of the Raimon, analyzing them. “We are going to play against one of the best teams in the country, but we must not forget that Teikoku is even better, nobody can beat us if we work as a team!” Sakuma's gaze locked on Haizaki who averted his with a rude gesture. “Give your best and let's demonstrate the invincible power of Teikoku!”

As they separated to go each to occupy their position Sakuma approached Fudou, with some remorse.

“I hope you know what you do. I don't want it to backfire.”

Fudou narrowed his eyes, looking directly at a little boy with spiky blue hair who moved excitedly in the field around another boy with spiky cream hair, cheering him up and then returning to the bench.

“Right now we are in the hands of Raimon. But even if we don't get Haizaki to respond after this match, we won't lose anything either. Haizaki is not the only Teikoku player and some of the new ones need to make contact with the harsh reality before we play for our national position.”

Sakuma nodded and continued advancing towards his position as striker, he looked at Genda who raised his thumb in support and Sakuma nodded again, it hurt to have to do that ... but he could not think of a better solution to his problems. He bit his lip and took a deep breath, in those moments only the result mattered.

Raimon would serve first. When the whistle blew to start the match Someoka passed the ball to Gouenji; but before any of them could react, Haizaki had come down on them, stole the ball and was heading non-stop against the opposing goal, knocking down the players who tried to block it.

  
Sakuma sighed in exasperation and ran after him, perhaps hoping that this time he would pass the ball and they didn't need to follow Fudou's plan.

The Raimon members did not react in time to Haizaki's onslaught that ended up scoring a goal before the commenters themselves could figure out what was going on. Endou opened his eyes visibly excited.

“That was great! I knew Teikoku would have super strong new players! What a pleasure it is to play against you! Come on guys we have to show them that we have improved too!”

The Raimon players who were stumped by Haizaki's aggressiveness smiled and took a positive and energetic attitude. Haizaki seemed even more angry to see that the goal did not affect them.    
  
Kidou looked at Fudou in the distance, crossed his arms, and furrowed his brows thoughtfully.

They returned to their positions, but there was no difference with the previous time. For the third time that Haizaki threw on goal Endou managed to stop the shot and his entire team received it with great joy.

  
Haizaki froze for a few moments, Endou threw the ball away, and Gouenji had managed to overcome Teikoku's defense. Preparing to shoot. He would not arrive in time.   
  
Genda watched in slow motion as the other team's striker hit the ball, took a deep breath, trembling. This cost him much more than when he had had to face Zeus or use the forbidden hissatsu with Shin Teikoku. He closed his eyes to gain courage. Gouenji's shot entered the goal neatly even though Genda rushed to stop him.

The Raimon celebrated the goal that only left them one point difference, all except their strategist who narrowed his eyes even more. 

Haizaki roared up to Genda.

“Why haven't you stopped it?”

Genda clenched his fists with all the self-control he was capable of.

“Sometimes you can't.”

The boy yelled more as he returned to his position. This time Teikoku served. Sakuma took another breath, if Fudou was right then… 

At the sound of the whistle Haizaki went for the ball, pushing Sakuma to take control. Sakuma fell to the ground without hurting himself, he expected the hit and responded with agility, Fudou had foreseen it.

Haizaki shot toward the Raimon's goal with renewed ferocity that none could cope with, and shooted again with a different hissatsu than the previous three times. An even higher version, Perfect Penguin, with which he managed to break through Endou's block.

The game continued in a similar way, Teikoku's team did not play together, Haizaki had no problem stealing the ball from his own teammates and throwing himself into the rival field, and although they couldn’t stop his advance, they were gradually getting used to his movements.   
  
A satisfied smile curved Fudou's lips when Endou stopped Haizaki's most powerful shot for the third time in a row.    
  
The whistle blew at the end of the first half. The score went 2-3 in favor of Teikoku. Fudou nodded, going to drink water with his teammates, the team, despite winning, was broken and with morale lowered.    
Haizaki confronted his companions and they began to argue. Fudou stayed somewhat aloof that time. In the second part the most delicate of his plan began, he looked at the side of the Raimon, Toramaru was warming up. 

“What are you up to, Fudou?”

The boy came out of his thoughts to see Kidou in front of him with his arms crossed. 

“What do you mean. Kidou-kun?”

Kidou pressed his lips together tightly.

“You're not playing seriously.”

Fudou opened his eyes pretending that it hurt.

"Of course we're playing seriously." Kidou opened his mouth to rebut him but Fudou put his hand on his shoulder and looked at him so seriously that Kidou was completely overwhelmed. “Believe me, it is the most difficult match for some of us.”

And Kidou believed him, suddenly understanding what Fudou was scheming.


	9. Memory 08: Raimon vs Teikoku 2nd part

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The seconf half of the match between Raimon and Teikoku starts, would Fudou's plan succeed?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What I like the most about this chapter is the end.
> 
> Anyways it was funnier to write than first half, specially because I really think that Haizaki would move with something like this. 
> 
> I love a lot Teikoku and Raimon (1st season) teams. They're my favs (along Orpheus), altough my first is Inazuma Japan.

The second part of the match was going to start. Toramaru replaced Someoka on the field, he was clearly excited to be able to play with his friends again. Haizaki looked at him with disdain.

“How old is that brat?”

“Twelve.”

Haizaki clenched his fists, that was a year less than him.

Teikoku made the first serve, and Haizaki took control of the ball without incident. What was surprising for him was that Toramaru stole the ball without any difficulty. Between Toramaru and Gouenji they managed to reach the goal, Haizaki ran after them and even caused one of Teikoku's defense hissatsus to fail, a technique that would have cut the advance of the two forwards.

“Haizaki! Pass the ball!” Sakuma shouted once more knowing that it would be just as in vain as the previous ones.

Gouenji took the ball again and passed it to Toramaru, he did not hesitate to shoot on goal with one of his best hissatsus.

Genda took another breath, to stop the shot with his Drill Smasher, but it was not enough and the ball entered scoring.

“Draw!” in the Raimon the news was received with great joy and cheers.

Toramaru's entry resulted in a change of score in favor of Raimon and before half the time came they had managed to score three more goals.   
Haizaki was no longer able to reach the opponent's goal because he was constantly blocked, but he also did not let his teammates play well because he sabotaged the plays in an attempt to gain control of the ball once again.

A whistle announced a technical pause and the Teikoku gathered around Sakuma, almost all of them shot down and in the case of Haizaki rabid about the lack of effectiveness of his technique even though he had played more and more aggressively. Only Fudou seemed calm, even amused. That moment would demonstrate Sakuma's real ability as captain and as a consequence would make that game serve something or would have been only an unfortunate spectacle of the team that once was the best in the country.   
  
Coach Kudou, with his arms crossed said nothing, his expression was completely unreadable. But Sakuma stepped forward decisively.

“Guys, I know it's difficult, there is barely half time left but we can win if we work as a team” his eye moved towards Haizaki who hit the ground with enormous frustration “Haizaki, you are a very bad player.” His eyes filled with anger turned towards Sakuma. “You have strength and talent but I am sure you are the worst player in this country, even Shimewhining is better than you.”

Narukami whispered something in Henmi's ear and they both laughed.

“Repeat that if you have guts!” Haizaki yelled looking at Sakuma.

“Of course, I will repeat it as many times as you want. You are a scumbag, Haizaki.”

Haizaki got up with a roar and grabbed Sakuma's shirt to hit him, the rest of the team moved to stop him; but Sakuma was not altered. Even if Fudou hadn't warned him that the striker would react like this, he could have guessed for himself what was going to happen after insulting him.

“Fifteen minutes, Haizaki. Stop being a jerk for fifteen minutes.”

“What?”

“There are fifteen minutes to go. Allow us fifteen minutes to play as a real team. We will never defeat Raimon in any other way.”

Haizaki yelled furiously.

“I don't need you to win! Raimon is a bunch of weaklings!”

"Right now Raimon is the strongest team in the country, Haizaki," Genda said. “In half an hour they have managed to adapt to your movements and turn the score. They have an amazing adaptability. We cannot win if we are not united.”

Sakuma looked at Fudou for a moment and he nodded, giving him the signal to continue.

“Is it that you don't feel angry that someone younger than you is beating you?” Haizaki's expression showed that it offended him greatly, Sakuma continued “Toramaru is a much better striker than you will ever be because he plays as a team. Unless you collaborate with everyone else.”

Haizaki's hand trembled and ended up releasing Sakuma, Genda relaxed when seeing that Sakuma was out of danger and added.

“Our capabilities are enhanced when we trust each other and play together. Soccer is played with eleven people.”

Everyone started supporting their captain and Haizaki backed away.

“Fine!” he growled. “I'll play as a team so you can shut up a damn time. But if you don't keep up with me I'll destroy you!”

Sakuma and Genda blinked in disbelief and immediately turned to Fudou, was it really going to work? He looked at them and nodded, a huge smile appeared on Genda's face that seemed to triple his strength. Sakuma swallowed and added.

“Guys, we have to show everyone what Teikoku is capable of, who is with me?”

Sakuma put his hand upside down and one by one all the members of Teikoku, including Haizaki reluctantly, placed their hands on his.

“Go for the victory, guys!”

  
Teikoku went back out onto the field, forming again, Kidou looked at Fudou with an astonished grimace. He could see how the mood had completely changed in the rival team, a change that he knew well because Endou was a specialist in it, the enmity was no longer felt between the opposing players, although there was still a lot of tension.

Teikoku served and that time to everyone's surprise, Haizaki did not pounce on the ball but instead ran forward. Sakuma quickly overcame the surprise and passed the ball to Fudou who was after him. Among the Teikoku members they managed to overcome the Raimon's defenses. Haizaki had the ball just in front of the goal, Endou launched in his direction to avoid the goal.

“Endou, no!” Kidou shouted. "Sakuma! Cover Sakuma!”

But it was too late, Endou had already jumped towards Haizaki. The boy seemed furious when he passed the ball to Sakuma who appeared on the other side unmarked because no one expected Haizaki not to shoot himself. Sakuma scored a goal to the surprise of everyone without even needing to use a special move.

Teikoku roared with emotion, Haizaki stood perplexed looking at Sakuma, who approached and ruffled his hair.

“Well done, Haizaki. Keep it up and you may change my mind about who is the worst player on the team.”

But he could not answer, something inside him felt wrong. Had he goaled without using a hissatsu? Was it really better playing as a team?

“It will be the last goal you score!” Toramaru exclaimed.

"Now it's our turn," Gouenji smiled.

  
The Raimon ran against Teikoku's field and they were able to penetrate his lines and reach the goal. Genda rubbed his hands together, he could give it his all.

Gouenji and Toramaru used a combined movement but Genda's eyes sparkled with great resolution. He stopped the shot and passed the ball forward. Doumen received the ball and passed it to Narukami, who passed it to Henmi, who passed it to Sakiyama who passed it to Sakuma.

“Fudou!” the boy yelled "Haizaki! Koutei Penguin 2gou!”

The long-haired boy was surprised when his captain called him, and was even more surprised when he saw Sakuma whistle causing some penguins to come out of the ground.

“Imit my movements, Haizaki!” Fudou exclaimed, running next to him. “Reflect them like a mirror!”

The ball went towards them with great force, Fudou and Haizaki coordinated and added their own energy to the shot that swept away Endou's hissatsu and got the goal.

“Yes!” Sakuma exclaimed as his team celebrated hugging each other, even Narukami hung on Haizaki's neck with excitement.

Teikoku was able to make another goal managing to tie 6-6 thanks to the shot of Narukami, Henmi and Sakiyama with Death Zone. Fudou walked to his position, exchanging a glance with Kidou, and smirking at him.

There were only a few minutes left and both teams fought hard to get out of the tie. Raimon was not willing to lose that match and neither was Teikoku. Raimon players struggled with everything to reach the end of the Teikoku field when there was hardly any time left.

“Genda attention!” Fudou exclaimed and ran towards him, reaching Endou who had shot out of his goal and was running towards Toramaru and Gouenji, everyone knew the hissatsu they were going to perform, the technique that had managed to win Japan the world cup.

The shot accumulated the energy of a hurricane, Teikoku's three defenders tried to block it but were completely devastated on the ground despite managing to subtract some power.

Fudou stood in front of the shot and tried to stop it by injecting contrary energy, he helped create that technique and knew, theoretically, how to stop it. 

But neither Fudou's strength was enough nor did he really count on it. In the end his leg gave way and he felt against the grass with an ugly crunch. If he had managed to weaken it enough ...

“Genda” he screamed from the floor, sitting up with a rush of pain rising from his ankle.

“Genda!” Sakuma also shouted running to the goal, but he would not be on time and he knew it.

“Genda!” all the other teammates shouted.

"Heh." A grimace crossed the keeper's face. “Now you will see why they call me the King of Goalkeepers!”

Genda saw the trajectory of the ball and concentrated orange energy in his hands that he projected forward grasping the ball and pushing it with all his strength in the opposite direction. An adaptation of his Power Shield movement.

The ball carried so much energy that it burned his hands and he felt his thrust begin to push him back. He inched his soles further into the grass, hearing the screams of all his teammates who trusted him. 

Yes, all his teammates trusted him and he could not disappoint them. Genda's eyes caught a fire, a crimson glow twinkled across the field and the orange energy turned green as the fierceness of the vibration around Genda increased.

All his teammates counted on him!

Genda roared along with all his friends with a renewed decision, the green energy began to grow still and there was an explosion that launched everyone nearby several meters away.

The ball flew out of a cloud of smoke away from the goal, fumng. When that smoke dissipated they could see Genda on his knees on the ground, it seemed that he had just gotten up and was confused but proud. His entire body was bruised, he rubbed his nose with a big smile.

“It didn’t enter.”

The whistle signaling the end of the match was heard amid widespread stupor. Raimon and Teikoku had tied 6-6.

Fudou sat down on the grass with a sigh and looked directly at Haizaki who looked like he had been hit with a frying pan and had an absent expression. Before his teammates launched into a hug with him. Sakuma was helping Genda to stand up.

The turquoise-eyed boy smirked and tried to get to his feet. He immediately regretted that gesture, a painful stab ran through his body and he fell flat on his face.

“Fudou!” His teammates from Teikoku ran to him to help him, although one of them was not even from Teikoku.

Kidou and Henmi grabbed Fudou and incorporated him. The boy put his foot to the ground with difficulty and felt an agonizing shudder.

"Go and look at that foot, Fudou," his coach who had approached ordered. “Kidou take him to the infirmary.”

"Yes, coach," the boy with the glasses answered automatically even though the adult was no longer his coach.

Fudou looked the adult in the eyes and saw in them a special recognition. Somehow the man was satisfied with the game.

Kidou left his team to accompany Fudou to the Raimon's infirmary. In which in those moments there was nobody.

“What the fuck does this mean? There is nobody here?”

“Don’t worry, I can look at your ankle myself. I know first aid.”

“Is there something you don't know how to do, mister perfect?”   
Kidou laughed out loud and Fudou lay down on a stretcher protesting, taking off his boot and sock, an ugly bruise around the external malleolus made them both frown at the same time.

“Was it necessary to get to that point?”

Fudou blinked, leaning back with a snort, he was very sweaty, his eyes went to the window from where the excited screams of the two teams could be heard.

“I hope so.”

Kidou wiped the sweat off his own forehead and looked for the utensils to treat the injury, taking off his glasses so he could see directly.

“I will make you a bandage to immobilize it for the moment, but this has to be looked at by a professional, Fudou. There may be something broken.”

The boy snorted looking into his red eyes, while Kidou felt carefully first and tried to see the range of motion of the joint. Suddenly the boy stopped and looked at his friend, their eyes connected.

“You've manipulated us as you wish, Fudou. Can you explain me what all this has come to? I know that in the first half you haven't played seriously, not all of them at least.”

Fudou settled on the stretcher with his eyes fixed on Kidou's hands after looking away from his eyes, it was rare to feel happy that Kidou was treating the injury when he had a horrible injury at first; but those gestures produced a great bubble of warmth in his chest.

“That boy, Haizaki Ryouhei, needed a touch of attention.”

“And that's why you tried to humiliate him so he reached the lowest, right?”

"If you want to defeat a dragon, you have to cut off its head, otherwise it will only infuriate more." Fudou smiled ruefully. “Sakuma and Genda did not agree at the beginning, they said that it was too creeping... and perhaps it is; but it doesn't matter to me, if we have managed Haizaki to start playing as a team it will have been worth it, If Haizaki joins the Teikoku game we will be unstoppable.

Kidou smiled knowingly and started cleaning the affected area.

“There were many factors that could go wrong, you must be really desperate.”

“Miraculously everything has turned out well ... The most important thing was that people did not realize that we weren’t playing seriously, especially Haizaki.”

“You have deceived your own companions, that is very ugly.”

"To fool the enemy, you have to fool the friend first," Fudou laughed, although he shuddered in pain and swore when Kidou over-tightened his injury.    
Fudou grabbed Kidou's hand to pull him away from his ankle.

“Hey! Be careful, that hurts a lot.”

"Sorry," Kidou murmured slightly self-consciously, Fudou huffed and released him.

“Some teammates of Teikoku knew of the plan in any case. Henmi and Sakiyama were aware. We didn't tell Narukami because he doesn't know how to keep his mouth shut, and with Doumen… we tried to tell him but he said he preferred not to know anything.” Fudou shrugged. “I knew you would find out sooner or later, it would have been very disappointing if you didn't ... more than your grade on Teikoku exam.”

Kidou gritted his teeth and tightened the bandage a little more than necessary making Fudou protest.

“Toramaru was necessary due to his age, Haizaki would not take better players than him seriously unless they were younger, because he shields himself in his age. 

“So Toramaru was necessary to humiliate him regarding his ability to play. Is that why you asked him to play even if it wasn't Raimon?”

Fudou nodded.

“Of course all the Raimon was necessary, I knew that with your ability to adapt to the opponent's game you would find a way to stop Haizaki's advance and score a goal. Endou was a key. The greater the disadvantage with which we moved, the better to make Haizaki react.”

"Then Genda has let be goaled by pretending that he gave his all to stop the shots," Kidou murmured.

“I calculated that midway through the second half we could make Haizaki, desperate for the lack of results of his attacks, agree to play as a team. To do this, Sakuma had to provoke him and gain his trust as captain.” Fudou paused and looked Kidou in the eye. “Sakuma is a great captain, Kidou.”

“I know.”

“Getting Haizaki to agree to play as a team was hypothetically simple. But something else was missing. We had to turn the score so he recorded in the unconscious that playing as a team makes him get better results than alone or we would return to the starting point. The tie will have a similar effect although perhaps slower. The last minutes were crucial and the most difficult, I knew that Endou, Gouenji and Toramaru would try to score with the Jet Stream when there was no time to return the move. I hoped that by then we would take a goal advantage at least. But Genda has defended the goal bravely” Fudou smiled with pride and Kidou could not help doing the same.

“You are a devil, Fudou; I don't even know why I appreciate you so much.”

Fudou opened his eyes and blushed, Kidou cut the bandage ignoring his reaction and tapped him on the knee.

“It is done.”

“Thank you, Kidou.”

Fudou got up and sat on the stretcher before throwing the body to the ground and standing up. A fleeting grimace of pain shot across his face but he quickly recovered.

“How is it?”

“I'll be able to hold on until I get to the hospital.”

“Do you want me to go with you?”

"It's not necessary, though ..." Fudou shrugged and Kidou looked at him with a warmer smile than he used to.

“Come on, Fudou.”

Fudou was slow to move, when he reached Kidou he looked at him challengingly.

“Next time we play, Teikoku will win.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure, Raimon has more possibilities of victory.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked the chapters! Maybe reading a match is less interesting than seeing it in the anime but I tried! If you like my story don't be shy to give kudous or comments!


	10. Memory 09: A visitor from the Future?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time goes while the Football Frontier is near the final. Would Raimon and Teikoku reach the final?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I couldn't update on Sunday, I'm so sorry! I didn't have computer to do it.
> 
> I hope you'll like it! It's more rushed than others because I didn't want to write longly about each match (don't think it's so interesting) so I can move to next chapters :D

Time had flown from the match between Teikoku and Raimon at such a speed that Fudou was astonished to discover that the winter holidays would begin in a few days.

The weather had become much colder and wetter, and it had even snowed one night covering the city of Inazuma in a layer of whiteness torn by the colorful lights that announced the approach of Christmas.

Teikoku had greatly improved as a team since Haizaki decided to trust others and play as a team with the rest. Through the different matches the team evolved and joined more to the point that all Teikoku players already considered Haizaki one of them, and that included going out in Inazuma, sometimes with the presence of the graduates who were studying first year of Superior Teikoku. Haizaki turned out to be especially good at arcades and managed to beat Gojou in his favorite retro game, something no one had ever accomplished.    
  
Shimewhining for his part was still a jerk, but no one took him too seriously, everyone blindly trusted Genda to defend the goal and doubted the boy needed a substitution. The King of Goalkeepers had created a new hissatsu, High Beast Fang, that remained unbeatable throughout the tournament. Genda had continued to practice with that feeling he had at the end of the match against Raimon and after many explosions, a few injuries and several burst balls, he managed to polish the hissatsu.   
  
Without surprising anyone, Teikoku and Raimon were the two Kanto teams that managed to get to play Frontier Soccer at a national level. The two teams celebrated with a dinner together at Hibiki’s restaurant, in addition to the players and managers of both teams, except for Shimerigawa who had decided not to go without anyone caring, the graduated members of Teikoku had joined and also did Toramaru and Tobitaka. During dinner Raimon and Teikoku bet on which team would win the tournament.

"Whoever loses will go to the Shadow Realm," Kageno muttered, making everyone shiver.

* * *

“That's all for now, remember that after the winter break the national games will begin” Kudou told his team after finish an especially satisfactory training in which Teikoku was practicing a team tactic, the Imperial Cycle.

The boys formed their military salute and went to the showers with much more encouragement. Sakuma looked radiant, he had gained a lot of confidence as a captain, and almost never wanted to drown after practice.   
  
Although they still did not know who would be the team with which they would play the first game of the national round, they were determined to win, since they had to beat all the teams if they wanted to win the cup.   
  
Fudou said goodbye to his teammates who tried to convince him to stay with them, but he refused, alleging that his head hurt and ran away. He was actually meeting Kidou for a private lesson and he was not going to let them ruin it again. Genda had a sixth sense for detecting the days of their classes and had already made them change the dates too many times by forcing him and Kidou to stay with everyone.    
  
Fudou liked the classes with Kidou very much for various reasons, he could show off his knowledge and be totally arrogant without being blamed, he could upset Kidou about his low grade in the exam he did in late summer, he could swell of sweets from different parts of the world in Kidou's pantry and above all and most importantly, he spent time alone with Kidou. Fudou was not entirely stupid and he realized that Kidou was especially special to him, he still did not understand the reason but he loved having an excuse to brush his skin and be able to spend time with him.

He was walking determinedly towards the meeting point when he suddenly stopped. Near him were two boys in fancy clothes and looking lost, one of them left him with his mouth open.

“I tell you it's around here, Shiratori.”

“You said that an hour ago, Kidou.”

"I have told you a thousand times to call me Akira while we are here!"   
The boy, presumably named Kidou Akira, looked around worriedly and then was livid when he saw Fudou looking at them just as perplexed.

The boy was remarkably similar to Kidou Yuuto in his facial features, he wore ghastly green futuristic glasses but his wavy hair slicked back was the same shade of brown as his, Fudou's. The other boy next to him had a pretty face,silver hair and lilac eyes, everything made him look like a youthful idol.

"If we don't move maybe he won't see us," Kidou Akira whispered to the other boy.

"I think that only works with tyrannosaurs," replied the other.

Fudou blinked without understanding why he was so confused, but before he finished blinking the boys disappeared.

The brunette boy searched for them in the area but could not find them anywhere. Surprised by that event, he arrived at the meeting point with the Kidou who was his friend and they went to his house.

That afternoon Fudou was especially dense and finally with a huff he put down his pencil and looked at his friend.

“Hey, do you have a cousin or something of our age called Kidou Akira?”

Kidou raised his eyebrows in surprise.

“No, father has no siblings and I am an only child. Although I'm adopted so…”

Fudou nodded and thoughtfully.

“The last name Kidou is not so rare in Japan, Fudou. It is probably from another family.” Added Kidou thinking he knew why Fudou was asking that.

The turquoise eyes looked out of the corner of his eye at his friend. No, that would not explain the resemblance, he shrugged anyway and tried to focus on the class.

* * *

Fudou saw the two boys again in the audience in the matches that Teikoku and Raimon played during the following weeks. They had already two rounds of national Football Frontier, with one game left before reaching the final, many expected that the final would be Raimon vs Teikoku, and everything seemed to indicate that it would be so.

Teikoku had faced the teams Oumihara and Zeus, the match with Zeus was especially hard and it was lived with great expectation given the result of the previous year. But Teikoku had managed to win by a goal difference and with it passed to the next phase.

Raimon meanwhile defeated the teams Inakuni and Hakuren, with the huge surprise of discovering that Fubuki Atsuya was alive and playing as a team striker. Someoka did not seem as surprised as his friends, since Fubuki Shirou had told him before, as soon as his brother appeared one day with some minors agents at the doors of his house. Apparently the boy survived the accident but lost his memory, and it wasn't until he saw his brother play at the FFI that he began to remember things from his past until all the memories came back to his mind. Hakuren's match against Raimon was his first match in years, and sadly for the brothers, also the last in the tournament. 

After that Raimon should play against Eisei, Tatsuya's team, which miraculously also played a person they believed dead, Kira Hiroto, the legitimate son of Mr. Kira. The boys from Teikoku did not know the details of Hiroto's appearance but Fudou talking to Kidou one day during his classes he told jokingly him.

“We will have to be careful when we play with you in the final, Raimon awakening the dead can be problematic in the case of Teikoku, we better leave Kageyama alone.”

Teikoku, in the other hand, should face a new team called Outei Tsukinomiya in the semifinal that was one of the favorites to win due to the overwhelming strength of its players. It was also a team that for some reason made Haizaki start to rage, until Sakuma and Genda managed to get the forward to speak in a trap in the locker room. Haizaki apparently hated that team with real desire, and they were the reason why at first he refused to play as a team and acted like a jerk. He told them that Outei Tsukinomiya's soccer team was an experimental test to artificially improve physical skills of the players and because of that a childhood friend of his had become paraplegic without being able to play soccer again. That was very unpleasant news and Teikoku shuddered, they did not forget what had happened the last time they had faced an artificially improved team.

"If Raimon managed to beat Zeus, we can face Outei Tsukinomiya," Fudou suddenly encouraged. “Do not forget that you are now better players than a year ago, and of course there is me.”

"Of course, because you did so much in the first games ..." Sakuma replied mockingly and all the teammates laughed; Fudou blushed annoyed.

“Don’t blame me for being injured during the match against Raimon! Ena is getting hurt all the time!”

Ena protested, although at the same moment Ookusu was bandaging his leg because he was injured during training.

And the day of the semifinal finally arrived, Raimon had already beaten Eisei in a hard-fought game in which they had to tie-break with an extension. Only Teikoku's match against Outei Tsukinomiya remained to know who would be the other finalist. When going out to the field Fudou saw Kidou cheering from the stands with the rest of his friends, not only was the Raimon but he could see all the colleagues from Inazuma Japan, the Teikoku graduates and some other people like Rika and Touko. They all carried a large banner to cheer them on. Near them he saw his mother next to Kidou's father. His eyes wandered around the audience and he also saw them, the two boys who didn't miss a match: Akira and Shiratori.

The match against Outei Tsukinomiya was very tough, but they were special training sessions with Kudou that ended up leading them to victory. At the end everyone was exhausted but happy. Especially Haizaki who jumped for joy and hugged Sakuma tightly lifting him up in the air. Not only had they won, but Outei Tsukinomiya's experiments were discovered by detective Onigawara Gengorou who had received the notice from Teikoku, managing to imprison the person after all that trick.

Fudou went to the locker room when a person came to meet him.

“You've been fantastic!” It was Kidou Akira who seemed enormously excited “I'm looking forward to watch Teikoku's match against Raimon! You have always told me about that game but being able to see it with my own eyes is such an exciting thing!”

“What have I always told you ...?” Fudou blinked, puzzled, confused by the boy's sudden appearance and his strange words; but at that moment the boy who accompanied Kidou Akira appeared.

“Akira!” He grabbed his arm and waved his hand at Fudou. “Don't listen to him, the sun has hit him too hard.”

“The sun hasn't hit me! Great-grandfather always spoke of that match with great pride!”

Fudou took a step back and narrowed his eyes, Shiratori covered Akira's mouth with his hand and gave a tight laugh.

“A lot of sun ... If you excuse us …”

The silver-haired boy dragged Kidou Akira away, and Fudou after meditating for a tenth of a second, followed them in silence, he wanted to hear more ... there was something strange in all that. 

The boys left the stadium, in an open area and with no one around. Fudou hid behind an old truck.

“I leave you just a moment and you have to open your big mouth! Killard warned us that we could not have contact with the people of this time, except if the Ogre Alarm goes off!”

“But Shiratori! Haven't you seen how great my great-grandfather has been in the field? It's even better than he always tells! “

"Well, it won't be precisely because your great-grandfather is very humble," growled the boy, crossing his arms.

“Aren't you excited to see your great-grandparents?” Akira asked puzzled.

“Of course yes! But we have to be careful ... You could already have inherited from your great-grandparents more than just the pretty face.”

“Hey! Repeat that! Who do you think invented the Blue Lightnings equipments, huh? My IQ is much higher than ...!”

"And your mouth too, shut up once and for all." Shiratori looked around nervously. “Someone might be listening to us.”

“And who is going to heard us here?” Akira protested.

Fudou could see how Shiratori wrinkled his nose in a way that reminded him a lot of Sakuma, it was the same expression that he did when he had to explain something obvious. 

He opened his mouth and scratched his head, was it that those boys really came from the future? That was ridiculous, but… He would also have thought it was ridiculous that Angels and Demons existed but he had to face them on Liocott Island.

"Killard is calling us, we have to move," Shiratori said, consulting a device on his wrist. “Apparently Kanon and Taisei have also been investigating on their own, I thought to see them at the Raimon match …”

“And Kumano?”

“Kumano is with Killard helping him.”

Akira nodded and suddenly a flash of blue light blinded Fudou, when he looked again the boys had disappeared.

* * *

  
Fudou couldn’t get out of his head what he saw for the next few days. From what little he heard these boys were from the future and were at that time to prevent someones called Ogre from intervening in any way. Apparently they were following the Raimon and Teikoku teams, so whatever was going to happen was going to happen to one of those teams.

It was all too ridiculous, but he heard it himself and saw the glow. Would it all be a superbly executed joke? However, this boy's resemblance with Kidou was too real ... According to the indications, he seemed to be a great-grandson of both Kidou and his, while the other boy seemed to be a great-grandson of at least Sakuma.

He sighed lying on the bed, could not get anything clearer; With the information he had, he couldn't but wait until what was going to happen happened. He looked at the calendar where he had a marked day. There were two weeks left for the final against Raimon and he could not be absent-minded. The final was important but so were Teikoku final exams. 

He stretched and yawned, maybe he should tell Kidou? Would he believe him? When he thought of Kidou, he felt a jolt inside, the boy was their great-grandson ... who would Kidou marry in the future? Why was he so disappointed? ... He couldn't understand it.   
  


* * *

It was only a week before the final match against Raimon when it happened.

The former Teikoku team met that Sunday morning after a hard training session to go eat together. They were arguing about the place on the main street of the Inazuma shopping area when a boy with wavy brown hair combed back and futuristic glasses desperately approached them.

“You have to help us!” he yelled, going straight to Fudou before anyone else could react and grabbing him by the shoulders.

The team stirred and immediately arranged around Fudou and the boy.

“Raimon is in danger!” the boy shouted, Akira shaking Fudou who was trying to get out of his grip protesting, although he stopped when he heard that.

"Calm down, boy." Genda put a hand on Akira's shoulder and turned to him. “Calm down and tell us what's going on.”

Akira babbled something and yelled out a bunch of quick, unrelated explanations that confused the others more.

“Ogre has attacked and the great-grandfather is trying to do everything he can but it is not enough! Killard has told us that we have to stop Ogre! If we don't stop Ogre now they can alter the future and create a world war!”

The Teikoku members looked at each other and some of them giggled.

“Are you okay?” Sakuma asked worriedly making Akira kick the ground in anger, a gesture that reminded everyone of Fudou.

Just then the other boy who always went with Akira appeared.

"You found them." He seemed relieved and approached Akira, but seeing the expression of all of them he felt a shudder. “Oh Akira… no…” He put his hand to his face and sighed heavily.

“Do you want to explain what happens?” Genda asked, looking at the boy intensely. “This boy says very strange things.”

Shiratori blushed a little and nodded.

“First of all, my name is Shiratori and he is Akira, a pleasure. Second, a mysterious team has appeared at Raimon's training ground and challenged them to a match, saying that if they win they will take their place in Football Frontier.” Shiratori paused and looked at Akira. “But ... but ... instead of trying to score goals ... they are shooting at the players.”

A jolt shook all the Teikoku boys, who froze, if that was true then ... but at that moment someone else appeared creating even greater chaos.

“Fudou! Sakuma! Genda! It's terrible ... terrible …”

Haruna was running almost on the verge of exhaustion, with tears in her eyes.

“I was looking for you ... my brother ... Raimon …”

Haruna lost her balance and fell forward, Henmi, quick with reflexes, could hold her in time. The girl was too shocked to continue speaking and her eyes were unfocused, trying to catch her breath and feeling the sharp flat on her side.

"Let's go to Raimon," Sakuma urged his team, although Fudou did not need to hear him because he had already run out there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you liked it you can leave a Kudou or a coment! Thank you for the support!


	11. Memory 10: Team Ogre attacks! [Double Chapter]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Teikoku Teams arrives at Raimon's field to see all their friends injured on the ground. Ogre Team is merceless and want to finish Raimon, but Teikoku doesn't let them. They decide to replace Raimon in the match and save both of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I should have upload this on Saturday but I couldn't finish the translation because I was working in another KdFd one-shot you can find in my account!
> 
> I hope you'll like it! It was funny to wrote altough it was more of the match and less of interactions.

Teikoku team along with the two mysterious boys and Haruna arrived at the Raimon institute, the sky was covered by abnormal dark clouds that produced a strange sensation of restlessness and hopelessness.   
  
They arrived right at the end of the first half and were immediately horrified by what they saw. Lying on the ground like a battlefield covered in corpses was Raimon's team, seriously injured and unable to get up. Even Endou didn't seem to be able to react, a wound was bleeding on his forehead. Aki cried from the bench hugging Natsumi who looked deathly pale, with a terrified Megane at her side trembling. 

“Kidou!” Fudou entered the field running, despite having finished the first time someone from the rival team had kicked a ball that went directly to the strategist who could not avoid it given his exhaustion.

Kidou's vision was clouded, his whole body ached and he couldn't make the slightest movement. He saw how they were shooting once more at him and he knew that this hit would be serious, very serious; he closed his eyes, unable to do anything but wait for the impact. He heard someone in the distance calling his name and a tear formed in his eyes.

But the hit did not come, someone intercepted the shot and the ball was thrown into the sky by the two opposing forces. That person snorted next to him.

“What a pitiful look you have, Kidou-kun.”

“Fudou …”

  
Teikoku jumped into the field with decision, standing between the injured players of Raimon, the rival team wore a red and blue uniform and did not even look disheveled for the match.

"Boys," Endou murmured from the goal with great effort before falling back into a state of torpor.

The one who appeared to be the captain of the opposing team raised his arm and pointed at the team.

“Get out or you will end the same.”

"Baddap," Akira murmured furiously, clenching his fists, Shiratori put a hand on his shoulder to calm him down.

"You'll end up the same anyway," laughed another boy with dark spiky hair combed to one side.

“We will replace Raimon in the final of the FF and we will do the same to you” answered a third player with dark green hair in a braid.

Everyone in Teikoku clenched their fists.

“That will have to be seen!” Narukami yelled furiously.

“This match is not over yet!” Genda exclaimed.

That seemed to amuse the rival team.

“It is not over? There is no one left of the Raimon standing. Who will play?”

"We," Sakuma replied decisively, stepping forward.

An agitated murmur ran through both parts of the field.

"No, Sakuma ..." Gouenji muttered from the ground. “You can't ... they are too ... strong.”

But Sakuma's gaze was imbued with an immovable decision, Teikoku teammates looked at each other and nodded at their captain.

“Teikoku Team will play the second half replacing Raimon.”

The rivals looked at their captain who furrowed his eyebrows, and pressed a device that was in his ear, apparently someone was giving orders.

“Fine. If you lose both the Raimon and the Teikoku will be disqualified from Football Frontier... If you win, which will not happen, we will withdraw and you will be able to play the final between yourselves.”

Sakuma accepted, they had no choice but to win, and Teikoku was used to win. He took a breath looking at the scoreboard, they had only scored one goal, apparently they preferred to humiliate their opponents taking them to a point where they could not move, but that would play in their favor.

“Fifteen minutes until we start, so you can take out the trash.”

Teikoku, after insulting the rival team for that, rushed to help his friends from the Raimon to leave the field, where the managers began to do their first aid care. Fudou carried Kidou on the shoulder and led him to the bench.

“Fudou ... they are very strong ... do not underestimate them …”

Fudou's eyes flashed with a fury that he had not felt in a long time.

“I’m not going to underestimate someone who has been able to do this to you, Kidou.”

The boy squatted in front of Kidou who was sitting on the bench barely breathless, he looked very bad with all the bruises and cuts that covered his body. With a gesture that triggered a strong pain Kidou put a hand behind his head and pulled the goggles off, slowly. After what it felt like years he put that object around Fudou's neck.

“Take them with you ... since I ... I will not be able to play …”

Kidou's vision turned double for a few seconds and Fudou held him so that he would not fall to the side and hurt himself more.

“Aki call an ambulance to take everyone!”

"No ..." Kidou whispered, grabbing Fudou by the wrist with hardly any strength, he raised his voice a little to add. “We all want ... we all want to see how you win ... We want to be until the end, we will be fine.”

Fudou gulped looking around, Raimon team nodding at Kidou's words, no one wanted to leave. Fudou raised one of his hands and stroked the strategist's right cheek where he had an ugly cut that was still bleeding.

“I'm counting on you ... Akio.”

The boy opened his eyes and nodded, staring at Kidou.

“We won't lose, Yuuto. After all, who better than a military team to face a military team?”

He stood up squeezing Kidou's shoulder in conviction and approached his team who were talking worried among themselves, when he arrived Sakuma turned to him.

“We have a problem Fudou ... There are only nine of us.”

“We have already told you that we can play!” Gojou protested, crossing his arms.

“You are injured, when were you planning to tell me?”

Gojou and Banjou lowered their heads.

“Our friends of Raimon need us!” Banjou growled. “We are not going to let a sprain of anything …”

“I will not allow you to play in a bad state, you have already seen what they have done to them. These people are dangerous and you can tell just looking at them that have been trained as an army, like us ... before.”

“I'll play.”

Teikoku group turned and saw Akira trembling but determined to step forward.

“Pardon?”

“I'll play!”

“But do you know how to play?” Genda asked in amazement.

That question outraged the boy although the other boy who accompanied him laughed out loud.

“Of course I know how to play! My great-grandfather …”

"I will play too," Shiratori interrupted, shooting a sharp look at Akira to silence him. Sakuma looked at the two of them for a moment and nodded, they had no other choice either.

Teikoku stepped out into the field with determination, emanating a strong aura of security and desire for revenge. Sakuma occupied his position as striker with Jimon while Akira and Shiratori occupied the positions of Gojou and Banjou who remained protesting on the bench, helping the Raimon boys.

“Ready to be ripped apart?” asked the dark-haired boy from the other team as his captain looked with eyes of nothing forward.    
Fudou looked strangely at that boy, with long frizzy gray hair, wearing a curious mark between his eyebrows that resembled a third eye, or even the symbol of Ophanimon in the Digimon Frontier series.

The starting whistle sounded and with it, a real pitched battle. Raimon boys watched in terror from their position on the bench, as they slowly recovered enough to be seated unaided. The rival team already played violently from the beginning, with them they had not been so violent until almost the end.

However... Henmi flew when he was hit by a ball in the stomach and fell coughing blood, he got up and wiped his mouth, looking fiercely at the rivals. Sakuma and Jimon went ahead and dribbled the team until they reached the goal. A lunge cut Doumen's breakthrough who was going to help, who fell to the grass with a open wounded knee, he sat up, covering his wound with his hand for a few moments, and looked fiercely at the rivals. The ball was close to Teikoku's goal, someone threw against the door and Narukami intercepted it being thrown against the goal post, he screamed at the painful blow with a thread of blood dripping from the corner of his lips, he struggled to stand up with the ball between his feet, looking fiercely at the rivals.

Kidou was puzzled by his old team's game. Each hit, each wound, each injury attempt made Teikoku stronger and in the end after several attempts to score by Jimon and Sakuma, the latter along with Fudou and Sakiyama managed to overcome the goalkeeper's defense with an improved ‘Death Zone’ that they practiced with Haizaki, ‘Death Crusher Zone’.

"It's the last goal you'll score," the braided boy yelled with a crazy look.

The ball passed between the Ogre players, with a dangerous glow in their eyes. Teikoku advanced determined to intercept the game and although they fell they got up again.

Baddap, the captain was in front of the goal and jumped into the air catching the ball between his feet, creating a powerful energy field through the printed turn to the ball.

“Watch out!” Endou shouted when he saw the technique that had done him so much damage.

A large, dangerous-looking black spear was formed with the energy radiating from the ball, only its presence was enough to feel a deep terror rise from the guts. Baddap shot on goal and although Genda did everything he could, the ball entered dragging with him the boy who was pushed against the goal net full of wounds. Genda got up, coughed, covering his mouth, and when he opened his palm he saw a reddish stain. His eyes flashed and he clenched his fist.

“It will not enter again!”

Shiratori trembled with frustration at his position, his eyes flashing with fury. He wanted to do more. Genda passed the ball to his team, who ran off to the opposite field. Fudou dodged several players but was cut by the black-haired boy and the one with the braid.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw a person running towards him, jumping towards him ... Those movements, that presence ...

“Kidou ...?” Fudou was surprised turning to look at the person who was approaching.

But it wasn't Kidou, or not Kidou Yuuto at least, it was Kidou Akira. Fudou immediately identified the pattern of movement the boy was doing. He only allowed himself a moment of bewilderment before responding, jumping in turn towards him with the ball he defended.

The ball fell between their legs, emitting a swirl of purple energy.

"It can't be ..." Kidou Yuuto who was barely holding himself opened his mouth completely perplexed to see his star movement with Fudou pushing back against the shock wave to the nearby rival players and allowing Teikoku to advance on the field. “‘Killer Fields’ ... but ... how? A great synchronization is necessary …”

In the field, several people were also surprised by this movement, but they did not have time to think, not in those moments. Sakuma was near the goal when they surrounded him, he knew that he could not overcome it and kicked with outrage.

“Here, great-grandfather Jirou!”

Sakuma turned to the voice, Shiratori had left his position and was running towards the goal on a totally free path, stupefied by the way he called him but without time to allow himself to hesitate, he passed the ball to him.

Shiratori received the pass cleanly and as he approached a few more meters he roared loudly, his eyes shining with a crimson flash that blinded nearby players as a dark energy panther with a green glow appeared behind him.

“‘High Beast Claw’!” the boy shouted shooting the ball with the immense force of that panther towards the goal.

The Ogre team goalkeeper with the help of two small defenses created an electric power shield to stop the shot. The ball collided with his shield, the goalkeeper recoiled a few inches, but remained firm.

“Let's go!” Shiratori shouted.

The ball spun frantically with that energy that left a greenish trail, spinning, spinning. The shield suddenly broke before the astonishment of the goalkeeper and the ball entered the goal cleanly.

The members of Teikoku were slow to assimilate the goal, but when they did they shouted excitedly.

“Don't relax!” Fudou warned, stepping back into position and looking at the silver-haired boy. “Now that we have tied they will be even more dangerous.”

Genda looked stunned at the lilac-eyed boy, that technique ... it was like his ‘High Beast Fang’ but in shot; but the technique was invented by him… how was it possible?

Ogre Team seemed furious and that manifested in an even more aggressive game. There were barely a few minutes left in the second time and some of the Teikoku members were reaching their limits.

Fudou stole the ball from Baddap near Teikoku's goal.

“What is the use of playing with so much anger?” he asked, running over the field. “Football must be fun!”

Baddap turned, surprised at that question. The ball was intercepted by his team, who again approached Genda's goal. The dark-haired boy prepared to shoot on goal creating a purple energy field that seemed to launch the ball like a military missile.

“It will not enter!” Oono shouted using a force field to try to stop the ball, but the shot overcame him and continued its advance.

Genda furrowed his eyebrows, he had to stop it, he just couldn't afford not to stop it.

He roared taking his hand to his heart and jumped to stop the ball, condensed energy in his hands. Then he noticed it.

That energy was different, instead of green the color that surrounded his hands was red, just like his eyes that shone fiercely. A huge lion appeared behind Genda and its powerful jaws closed around the ball.

The still uncontrolled energy shot out in all directions causing everyone to close their eyes because of the light; the boy who shooted fell to the ground with a blow to the back. Genda remained standing, and when everyone could open their eyes they saw that in his hands, despite the painful abrasion, was the ball that failed to score a goal.

“Yes!” Sakuma shouted excitedly.

"’King Beast Fang’," Shiratori murmured with a smile, looking proudly at Genda.

“Come on, Teikoku! We can win!” Sakuma ran towards the rival goal, confident that they could win that match, there were only a few minutes left ... they had to do it.

Teikoku managed to once again break Ogre's defenses that had begun to lose themselves to the reality of the scoreboard.

Baddap came out to meet Sakuma and they both fought for the ball.

“We'll destroy your damn football! Football must disappear! It makes people weak!”

“Football brings people together, it's fun! It is the people who must work to become strong with it! We won't let you beat us!”

Sakuma managed to overcome Baddap but he had little strength left for a last shot, Fudou ran to him knowing that it would also be the last movement he would be capable of, at his side Akira yelled at them.

“Do you trust me !?” Sakuma with the ball at his feet as he advanced blinked confused “Pass me the ball!” Sakuma nodded carried by a strange feeling of familiarity, as if it was Kidou Yuuto himself who was next to him and not that other boy.

Akira picked up the ball and jumped, put two fingers to his mouth and whistled, five purple penguins appeared from the ground, but they were different from the ones Kidou always invoked… These penguins had the same glasses as the boy who invoked them and they seemed robotic.

“Fudou Akio! Sakuma Jirou! I need you! It won't work without you!” 

The two boys immediately jumped to Kidou Akira's level, the ball vibrated with a force field and the penguins began to spin in circles around them.

“Now! ‘Koutei Penguin the Future’!” Akira shouted and all three kicked the ball that was thrown against the goal with lethal force.   
The goalkeeper was thrown into the net when he wanted to block the shot but Baddap jumped in front of the ball, trying to stop it with his chest, his eyes shining with determination.

“No! You can't win! You will not win!”

The dark boy and the boy with the braid stood behind their captain trying to hold him from behind with all their strength to help him stop the ball; but the shot made them recoil little by little.

“It will not enter!” the three shouted, leaning firmly on the ground to avoid recoil.

“Enter!” Teikoku roared.

“Enter!” shouted the Raimon and everyone else watching the game.

Kidou Yuuto closed his fists on his knees trembling with frustration and anticipation.

“Enter…”

There was an explosion of light and the three Ogre players were thrown against the net next to the ball, colliding with the goalkeeper who was already there without being able to move.

The marker signaled a 2-3 in Teikoku's favor just as the final whistle blew.

The Teikoku players dropped to the grass, panting, exhausted, becoming aware of the pain that ran through their bodies due to the wounds received and the overstraining of the match once the adrenaline had disappeared.   
In the sky the clouds began to dissipate revealing the beautiful blue midday sky.

Baddap joined the network with the other two, they seemed about to collapse.

“Eska ... Mistrene …” the boy felt a tear in his eye “Have we... have we failed?”

Sakuma approached the Ogre captain and held out his hand for him to shake, a gesture that indicated a good game; but he still did not move, a kind of cold fury seemed to go through him, Fudou observed him, its name was disappointment, he approached with a mocking smile.

“Of course you failed, Teikoku is the strongest team ever” the boy with brown hair and turquoise eyes approached Sakuma, Genda also ran from the goal.

The three boys looked at Fudou with irritation, which of course was what he expected.

“We haven’t played at our maximum.”

“What the fuck" Fudou shouted. “You can’t believe it yourself. We have been much better! You should kneel down and kiss our boots.””

Baddap felt a spasm run through his body as a new force washed over him. He approached Fudou with clenched fists.

“Neither in your dreams, asshole! Ogre is so much better than your shoddy team!”

Eska and Mistrene looked at each other and then at their captain, amazed that he reacted like this, they had never seen him lose his composure.

“Well, this shoddy team has kicked your butt really well.”

“Do you want a rematch?”

“When you want! The result is going to be the same.”

Sakuma and Genda laughed and held Fudou, Eska and Mistrene after a moment of confusion also laughed and in the end also Baddap and Fudou joined them, slowly infecting both teams.

It was a new, wonderful feeling, a light breeze in their hearts that filled them with peace, it was the first time that Ogre laughed.

Sakuma reached out to the captain again.

“You have played with courage. I think that in the end you were able to understand what football consists of, right?”

Baddap looked at Sakuma's hand and shook it with a shy smile.

“Fight to the end with your friends.”

Sakuma shook his head.

“Yes something like that.”

Baddap also looked at Endou who was screaming forgetting his injuries and bowed his head in gratitude. Then he looked at Akira and Shiratori and a soft smile relaxed his face.

“Thanks guys.”

Blue lights unexpectedly appeared from the sky and enveloped the Ogre players before the astonished gaze of everyone else. The Ogre players closed their eyes with a sigh and raised their right hands to their hearts in a military salute. When the lights dissapeared, the players were gone. A whisper of gratitude blew in the wind.

Just at the same time there were two other flashes and two boys ran into the field dressed in the Raimon uniform.

“Akira! Shiratori! We have finally arrived, we are ready for the game.”

One of them stopped dead, and the other looked around in amazement, his blue hair standing on end with a bandana on his head.

“No! We have missed the game!”

The other boy sighed and put his hand to his face.

“It's ironic to be late coming from the future.”

“Can someone explain to me what's going on?” Genda asked in exasperation. “Why are there suddenly two Gouenjis?”

One of the newcomers was exactly like Gouenji except perhaps becuase of having slightly lighter hair. The original Gouenji was looking at him as if he were looking at a Martian, they had all come closer around the four boys.

Shiratori took a breath to explain the situation, but before he could speak Kanon and Akira decided to open their big mouths.

“He is Gouenji Taisei! He is one of Gouenji Shuuya's great grandchildren. I am Endou Kanon! Nice to meet you, great-grandfather, Mamoru! great-grandfather, Ichirouta” Kanon gripped Endou's and Kazemaru’s hands tightly and shook them off. 

That agitated the players of both teams a lot, in a bad way.

“Is this some king of joke!?” Someoka snorted, folding his arms.

“It is true!” exclaimed Akira “We come from the future, our mission was to stop the Ogre team. In the future, football is the most important game in the Universe and people are very happy. But some people believe that football makes people weak and wanted to destroy it in the start. Because Raimon became one of the Legendary teams in the future! Along with Teikoku, Inazuma Japan and some others by the way!”

Most of the teens were too exhausted and confused to follow the whole explanation wholeheartedly.

“Then you come from the future?” Genda asked, puzzled.

"Yes, Genda, that's what they said, eighty times," Fudou snorted in exasperation.

Genda wanted to face him, but that would be wasted energy. He stared at Shiratori who blushed and decided to ask another question.

“You are my descendant?”

“Yes. And also Sakuma Jirou’s” Shiratori pointed at Sakuma.

He blinked in disbelief but Kidou approached Akira before he could say anything else, everyone turned to them.

“You are my great-grandson.”

Akira looked at his great-grandfather and moved excitedly, lowering his glasses. His eyes were the same as Fudou's but the color of Kidou's, everyone opened their mouths surprised.

“Yes! Ah, what a thrill! You recognized me, huh? Great-grandfather Akio has always told me so much about you… I really wanted to meet you in person! You left when I was little and I hardly have a vague memory. You'll see when I tell him! He misses you so much…”

Kidou blinked, shaking his head slightly with a slight shudder, somehow it was strange to know that he was dead in the future; his eyes met those of Fudou who had a sad grimace, so he missed him so much? he could imagine.

“Then you are great-grandson of Fudou and Kidou?” Sakuma asked after looking at Shiratori, Akira opened his mouth excited and Shiratori immediately realized that he was going to talk more and tried to reach him to stop him.

“Yes! Oh, but I'm also a great grandson of Demonio Strada. His daughter, my grandmother, married Kidou and Fudou's son, my grandfather and …”

Suddenly there was a stir between the group and Shiratori who had jumped into Akira tried to cover his mouth, but Genda grabbed him to stop him because that was worthy of a soap opera.

“Pardon? Our son?” Kidou's face flushed red, but Akira was so excited that he didn't notice the warning look from Shiratori in Genda's arms or the look of exasperation from Taisei.

Fudou felt his heart beat too fast at that revelation, what did that mean?

“Yes! My grandfather is your son, thanks to biological advances it was possible to combine the DNA of two men and …”

Shiratori finally pulled away from Genda's arm and covered his mouth while the boy tried to snarl free.

“Don't pay much attention to him, he was hit in his head during the game. Combine DNA how crazy, huh?”

“Why do you say that, Shiratori? If your great-grandparents Sakuma and Genda too …”

Shiratori blushed and covered Kanon's mouth with the other hand. Taisei brought his hand to his forehead with a loud thud.

Genda and Sakuma exchanged a puzzled look at each other and blushed violently at the same time. The boys from both Teikoku and Raimon got excited and started asking thousands of questions at once because that was too much for everyone.

Kidou touched his head believing he had gone crazy, Fudou looked at him with that heartbeat, then he and Kidou ...? Kidou looked up and saw Fudou's turquoise eyes fixed on his and felt an enormous heat burning his body, he covered his mouth and looked puzzled at Fudou. Would that be true? Did he and Fudou really ...?

"Look, don't think about it any more ... in fact ..." Taisei grabbed Kanon and did a knowing look at Shiratori who nodded, "you may have forgotten all of this tomorrow."

“What are you saying!” Endou exclaimed with a laugh, "how could we forget something like that? It is too amazing!”

But at that moment there was a flash of light and everything vanished.

* * *

  
Fudou opened his eyes in his bed when the alarm clock rang indicating that it was time to get up to go to class, his whole body ached and he didn't know why. He rubbed his forehead and remembered. Ah yes, training with the Teikoku team was quite tough the day before. He got up with a headache, he felt a dense haze inside him, as if something was shorting out.

He looked out the window in a daze and realized he was wearing Kidou's goggles around his neck, how did those glasses get there? He could not remember, the last thing he remembered was leaving Teikoku's morning training to go eat with the old team. 

He stretched with a groan, just what he needed, that his memory began to fail like an old man just a few days after the final exams and the final match with the Raimon. He paused for a moment, shook his head, and grabbed the goggles. He would have to go return them to Kidou after school.


	12. Memory 11: The Football Frontier Final

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final of Football Frontier finally is here. Raimon and Teikoku must play harder than ever. Who would win?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love so much this chapter, I hope you'll do too! To me it's very soft and I tried my best, not only to make the scenary for Kidou and Fudou but for the whole friendship core that it's so important for the story too.
> 
> Thanks for your support!! If you are liking the story don't be shy and leave Kudous or comments! I love reading your opinions, it makes me really happy!

A bellow rose in the stadium after a second of silence as players and public processed the result of that encounter, the last of Football Frontier. Commentators shouted the name of the victors amid the public's collective hysteria.

Sakuma was breathing hard with his hands resting on his knees, thick beads of sweat running down his forehead, he was standing next to the Raimon goal where he and Haizaki had just scored the winning goal. Haizaki was on his feet, breathing rapidly as a smile began to grow on his face.

“Yes!” he roared suddenly, throwing himself to his knees, raising his arms.

“Jirou!” Genda ran across the field and when he got to his captain he jumped into a tackle against him, hugging him as they fell to the ground and screamed with happiness “We did it, Jirou! We won!”

Sakuma began to cry with happiness, he could not believe that he managed to lead his team to victory, after so much hard work and so much sacrifice he managed to demonstrate his worth as captain.

All of the Teikoku members were screaming and hugging, even on the bench Shimewhining hugging Ena, who was injured, was muttering.

“I could have done even better, but it's not bad.”

"Well played." A soft voice and a gentle touch on the shoulder made Fudou turn to the person who approached him, Kidou smiled at his side. He smiled sadly at the loss and with satisfaction of the match, he knew that they had given everything on the field and had nothing to regret.

"You didn’t do bad either," Fudou admitted, smiling back.

Raimon's team wiped the sweat from his forehead, they seemed disappointed not to have managed to win but at the same time happy with that exciting game. Endou consoled his team by shouting them how well they played, the boys were drying their eyes and began to smile little by little. With a group hug before running to congratulate the Teikoku members. Endou hugged Sakuma tightly congratulating him on his wonderful game and then did the same to the other players. 

"It looks like we're going to be the ones going to the Shadow Realm," Kageno murmured, remembering the bet with Teikoku and making Handa and Matsuno feel a chill.

Someoka clapped Fudou on the back.

“Well done friend.”

“You haven't been bad either, Gool Keeper.”

Someoka laughed and they both fist bumped, then greeted their friends in the stands. Fudou looked up and saw everyone again. Tobitaka and Tsunami whistled loudly and seemed to be yelling at them specifically. Fudou's mother made gestures of complicity and said something to the man next to her, again Mr. Kidou, who did not seem so satisfied. The boy sighed, his mother and Mr. Kidou seemed to have become quite close since they met on Liocott Island and always watched their children's football matches together. 

Fudou's eyes detected four boys sitting at a certain distance, one of them was just like Gouenji and the other was wearing ridiculous Kidou-style glasses. He blinked, somehow they feel familiar to him, smiled shaking his head, and turned to Someoka again.

Kudou was proud of his players when he approached them to receive the Cup and congratulated them in such a way that they all started to cry, Kudou was a very strict person and those words meant a lot to them.

After the awards ceremony, the boys received the notice that some people prepared a surprise party to celebrate the victory on the Inazuma riverside. The party was organized by the managers of all the Football Frontier teams on the riverside football field, although since Megane told them they had a congratulatory poster prepared for each of the teams just in case.

Still, the Teikoku team appreciated the gesture, and all the tournament players and friends who wanted to go were immediately invited.

Between all the managers they set up folding tables with lots of food and drinks, and someone had even brought a karaoke machine. Narukami decided to go first to the Karaoke with Otomura who joined immediately. Midorikawa went to speak to Sakuma and was congratulating him warmly, Kazemaru was also with them at that time and even Afuro joined them. 

Genda seemed to be having a contest with Endou, Saginuma, Tachimukai and other goalkeepers about who could lift the most weight. Endou managed to lift Kabeyama on his shoulders while he was carrying Kurimatsu and Kogure, the goalkeeper had a very red face. Tachimukai, on the other hand, lifted practically his entire team without difficulty with one of his techniques in which he invoked multiple hands. Saginuma carrying Suzuno on one shoulder and Nagumo on the other fighting among them seemed very annoyed to lose and that Reina refused to climb on top of them.

Fudou was talking to Someoka, Tsunami and Tobitaka. The boys laughed at something Tsunami said while gesturing exaggeratedly. Near them Toramaru challenged Haizaki to a few passes and the boys ended up with Atsuya, Hiroto and a boy from Inakuni with a pinched nose, all assuring that they were the best striker in the country.

"Rookies," Gouenji smiled, looking at them, while Hijikata clapped him on the back and laughed with him.

Kidou talked to Tatsuya, Fubuki, and Mizukamiya quietly, until Henmi and Sakiyama challenged everyone to a three-legged race and a huge stir ensued. The race in which almost everyone participated was won by Touko and Rika, although Oono and Doumen almost surpassed them, because Oono dragged without difficulty the little Doumen who could barely touch the ground.

The sky began to tint with the colors of sunset while all the teenagers continued enjoying the moment. Kidou smiled from a corner and without anyone noticing due to the chaos of the place he moved away from them. Only turquoise eyes followed the teenager's movement, eyes that constantly turned to Kidou. He excused himself with a growl from Haizaki and Hiroto whom he was talking to and left after his dear friend.

Kidou walked away until the screaming and the music became a murmur in the background, his hands behind his head. He felt strangely uneasy, at the bottom of his stomach was a knot that he wanted to think about, that he needed to think about, alone. And he needed to do it now. A feeling of non-permanence had seized him, that was his last game with Raimon, in a few weeks everything would change. They grew.

He sat on the grass watching the sun redden the waters of the river and his mind evoked the sunset on Liocott Island after the final, that was the most beautiful sunset of his life. Although to be honest, he did not dedicate himself to seeing many sunsets. The grass was fresh and a cold wind of change of season began to rise, soon they would leave the winter behind and they would enter the spring. A nostalgic and emotional breeze was blowing that bubbled inside Kidou's stomach. He plunged into his thoughts without realizing that someone was watching him.

A while later that person could not bear it anymore and made his presence known with a hawk, as he walked determinedly towards the boy.

“What is the great strategist Kidou-kun doing here alone? Are you a bitter man who is unable to celebrate the victories of others?”

“Fudou” Kidou was surprised to hear him, turning to him, why did Fudou always catch him at times like this?

Fudou went down the slope of the riverbank and with a light jog reached his friend, dropped with a light blow to his side. Fudou's eyes on him, his hair was swaying in the wind and his lips were soft peach. Kidou thought that scene made him look extremely attractive; he bit his lip, deep down he thought Fudou always looked very attractive, was that normal? He blinked without saying anything, remembering different moments shared with the boy, he was unable to look him in the eye without losing the thread of his thoughts; his looks, his touch, his whispers charmed him… Even when he laughed at someone, when he used his sly tone or insulted someone with sharp and biting words, even then, he found him attractive; and Kidou couldn't help but mockingly smile at whoever was the strategist's victim.

“Earth calling Kidou!” Fudou smiled sitting next to him, passing his hand in front of the glasses. “Why did you run away?”

"I wanted to be alone," Kidou explained, looking straight ahead.

Fudou raised his eyebrows and laughed out loud.

“Hey, I think I fucked your moment.”

Kidou slowly shook his head sideways.

“I don't care if it's you.”

The brown boy let out a loud mocking laugh and approached, lowering his glasses with a quick movement.

“That's much better, Kidou-kun. You are awful with those goggles.”

He let out a sudden sigh with a hint of sadness reflected in his red eyes.

“Do you think I’m ugly?”

Fudou blinked, blushing suddenly, puzzled by that question.

“What’”

“Am I that ugly?” Kidou looked down without understanding why something so superficial hurt so much.

Fudou's lips trembled before he could answer, as he buried his face in his knees because he was too embarrassed to say something like that to him.

"No ..." Kidou widened his eyes and turned to him, he could only see the nape of his neck because he hid his face between his knees and he also covered himself with his arms, but instead he could see his red ears. “At least, at least... to me, you look very handsome… But it makes me angry that you hide your eyes with goggles ... your goggles are very ugly.”

Kidou felt very hot despite the weather, as if someone set him on fire, his cheeks reddened so much that they hurt. Fudou did not usually say good things to him. Sometimes he did it through twisted comments and strange metaphors that even he found it difficult to understand. Occasions like that were rare, times when he was simply flattered, especially when what he was saying was so profound, because Fudou felt very vulnerable at the time, and he was not always prepared to feel vulnerable. Kidou remembered when many months before Fudou had told him that his eyes seemed beautiful to him and a shiver of joy as unexpected as everything else went through him.

"You also look very attractive to me," Kidou replied, wanting to comply with the compliment without realizing the depth of his words.

He heard Fudou laugh between his knees and suddenly he could see his gallant gaze through a gap in his arms, Kidou felt the world tremble under his feet. The boys lost a moment in that look without managing to think of anything.

Kidou finally withdrew his face, looking straight ahead again, took a deep breath and opened up to him.

“I was thinking about what will happen now. When we start High School.”

Fudou drowned a sound and sat up, his suddenly tense face reflected that something was overwhelming him inside, that there was something that hurt him and that he was debating whether to say or not. However, when he moved his lips he simply asked:

“And what will happen?”

Kidou looked at him seriously, narrowing his eyes a bit at his friend's frustrated expression. 

“We will enter the Superior Teikoku School, I will leave the Raimon forever …”

Kidou lowered his face, that produced several mixed emotions. He was very happy to be able to enter Teikoku to continue his studies with his friends there, with Fudou, with Genda, with Sakuma ... But it made him sad to leave the Raimon team, Endou and Gouenji were very important people to him, great friends he knew he was going to miss. And not only them, all the boys of Raimon… Leaving them made a strong uneasiness in his heart, a sensation that he had also experienced when leaving behind his friends from Teikoku.

Fudou rolled his eyes at Kidou's disconsolate face.

“It is not like you are not going to be able to see them again just because you don’t go to the same school or don’t play football with them, right?”

There was a silence with a note of melancholy. Of sadness to know that a stage of life was closing and everything was going to change hopelessly, a sadness in which the joy and hope of the new days to come was hidden. The same coin with both sides coexisting. 

Kidou looked up and nodded, trying to smile, but then he saw his eyes and realized that there was something else he was not saying and that was causing him a lot of pain.

“What's the matter, Fudou?”

The boy tried to deflect the subject but Kidou grabbed him by the wrist, staring at him and in the end Fudou collapsed.

“I promised my mother that I’ll look for a part-time job while studying to help with the house expenses... Recently... recently we received a last gift from my father ... If we don't pay, my mother may go to jail…” his voice finished in a broken whisper.

Kidou opened his eyes and blinked, not wanting to understand that reality that was beginning to take shape in his head.

“Can't you hire a lawyer? I can get you some good lawyers... You ... are you really going to work part-time? But ... then ... your studies ... the football.”

Fudou looked down and covered his face with his hands.

“I’m going to enter a High School in my neighborhood, it’s said to be one of the worst in the city but… it’ll leave me time to work. Regarding football ... I should stop playing.”

Fudou shrugged his shoulders without revealing his face, as if he didn't care. Although deep inside he was deeply anxious, he blinked furiously to cut a few tears of bitterness. Despite the fact that a black hand clenching his heart he made that decision to help his mother, that debt was overcoming them again and they knew what it was to lose everything due to lack of money, they would not repeat that experience again. He could not disappoint his mother again.

Kidou was shocked, he couldn't understand it ... he didn't want to understand it. The news broke his heart; much more than stopping to see any of his Raimon friends, much more than when he left his Teikoku friends behind… His head perhaps focused on the least of the problems to avoid thinking about the others: football; football united them, he could not just leave it like that, he also had so many illusions of being able to go to class with him, of sharing much more time with him than the hours of private lessons and meets with others. He clenched his fists tightly, a tear of rage running down his cheek, of course he understood but ...

“You can't stop playing football, Akio! Football is ... football is our passion!”

Fudou raised his eyebrows lowering his hands to look at him, shocked by that reaction and seeing how he was crying. He tried to put on a smile as if that wasn't so important.

“When did Endou's spirit possess you?”

Fudou laughed softly, in that carefree performance, wiped Kidou's tears in a very sensual way, a touch full of feeling. Both boys blushed after that with an upset stomach.

“It's not the end of the world, Kidou-kun ... I wouldn't stop playing ... forever.”

“And our private leassons?”

Kidou's lips trembled, Fudou's surprised expression made it clear that he did not expect any more private lessons.

“Why would you need me to continue teaching you if you enter the Superior Teikoku? Surely in a few days you have a much higher level than me, my high school is disgusting.”

The dreadlocks boy laced the fingers of both hands and looked at him seriously.

"Doesn't it bother you that I'm going to leave you behind?"

Fudou closed his eyes briefly.

"Very much." A bitter competitive smile appeared on his face. “You cannot imagine it.”

He covered his face with his hands and leaned back, lying on the grass with a frustrated growl.

“I still have problems with Japanese, especially Old Japanese and everything related to poetry, who could help me now?”

Fudou opened his eyes and looked at Kidou, sitting up again with an agile movement.

“What do you try, Kidou?”

Kidou shrugged, but with a quick grip he pulled Fudou towards him, grabbed him by the waist and with the turn, the brown boy was sitting on Kidou’s outstretched legs, his knees on either side of him. his hips. One of the arms was still on Fudou's waist, pressing the boy against his body, with the other hand he caressed his cheek.

"Aren't you going to keep teaching me then? Too bad, I was thinking of raising your salary… Maybe with that and some other occasional job you could have helped with the debt and still have time to study in a good school worthy of your level and play football.”

Fudou's eyes were wide, and his lips also parted. Suddenly the boy laughed amused but also with a relief that released the black hand that clutched his heart.

"Are you manipulating me into teaching you, Kidou-kun?"

Kidou smirked, pulled back his friend’s hair, and moved closer to Fudou’s ear, his voice full of mischief.

“Maybe.”

Fudou with a racing heart, continued to laugh. When he was able to calm down, he looked Kidou intensely in the eyes and he felt an upset stomach. That strong attraction for the boy bewitched him. He sighed and dropped his forehead onto his.

“You know? I really would hate to have to quit football.” The brown boy moved to sit next to him before the attraction led him to do something stupid. He looked at his open palms, then closed them decisively. “Football makes me happy.”

“And me?” That question escaped Kidou's lips before he could contain it, a question filled with almost childish envy.

Fudou squinted at Kidou, grimaced and looked at him.

“You are part of football. Although I also like spending time with you for the sake of it.” Fudou turned his head, biting his lips in embarrassment, Kidou laughed.

“Then, will you continue teaching me?”

Fudou cocked his head without answering, watching as the dark sky began to light up with little twinkling lights. 

“I'll think about it ... I have to talk with my mother first.”

Kidou's ears turned red, but he was unable to respond. Of course he wanted Fudou to enter Teikoku Superior with him, but he couldn't be honest with that. Even more knowing the economic burden that would suppose for that family.

“Now we should go back, Kidou-kun ... It is the last time that …”

Fudou fell silent unable to continue the sentence, there was something painful in growing up, in knowing that he will not return to a place or a moment that was important to one. He sat up from the grass and looked longingly at the sky, remembering the moment lived with Kidou during the sunset on Liocott Island, the promise of a next kiss.

Then he shook his head vigorously. He must have been a jerk for thinking the boy would keep his word. Also, in the first place, why did he want it so much? Why had he been waiting for that moment that never happened? He turned to go, but Kidou grabbed him by the wrist.

“Hey, Akio.”

Fudou turned around questioningly, Kidou also got up pulling him closer to him, grabbing him behind the head with the other hand and bringing his lips together.

The brunette closed his eyes once the initial surprise was over, feeling that long-awaited contact, his heart was pounding, his body burned and his stomach trembled; it was the best feeling in the Universe. Kidou's hand on his wrist slipped to the brown boy's hand where he laced their fingers. Around him the environment became electric.

The kiss was long, none wanted to separate once they were united, finally Kidou moved doing the same thing that Fudou did the previous time, a bite on his lower lip, although this one was very provocative, as if challenging him to get back together. 

“Congratulations on winning the Football Frontier, Akio.” 

Kidou's words were laden with pride. Both of them had very red faces and they were breathing hard, as if they just played the game at those moments and not hours before as it happened.

"I see that you at least keep your word at times," Fudou smiled, touching his lips with his index finger.

"I always keep my word," Kidou corrected. “I've never taken my eyes off you.”

Fudou's eyes searched Kidou's and he smiled heartily, not quite understanding why he did it, somehow he felt so grateful to have met that boy. Kidou took a deep breath, he would give anything for that smile, although he still didn't want to accept it. Fudou widened a mocking smile and commented with a laugh.

“Wow, Kidou-kun. I'm going to think you like me.”

The red-eyed boy looked at him with a bit of sarcasm and laughed too, although he realized that his stomach was skipping, maybe ...?

“Don't think you’re so important, Fudou.”

The two boys pushed each other up the hillside again, heading to the place where the others were still celebrating. The party lasted well into the morning and the two boys actively participated in it. Singing karaoke, playing football and eating amid laughter, tears and bonds of friendship.


	13. Memory 12: A perfect grade

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> High School starts and Kidou is annoyed because another person got a perfect grade like him and Fudou told his friends he would study in a High School near his home. But things are better than they seem.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll submit two chapters today because next one is a filler chapter but I really really wanted to write it ;v;
> 
> This chapter was funny to write, I love writing Kidou without his "facades". I hope you'll like it!

“Have you heard about the two boys with the perfect entrance exam?”

“It is not that they took a perfect exam, it is that they passed perfection. I heard they got 120% over 100%.

“There is no more than 100%.”

“I heard that one of them is a prince from a far away country.”

“As far as I know one of them is an eccentric who collects calculators.”

“Don’t you know that they are professional football players? Don't you watch TV or what?”

“Nonsense! Football players!”

“Don't you really know them? If they are famous!”

A boy with long silver hair dressed in the military uniform of Teikoku Superior High School sighed when he heard those students talking about the results of the entrance exams. Some people had a really overflowing imagination… He heard a boy that looked like a total geek that the person who was number one was a wizard and he would arrive riding a dragon. What nonsense. And yet, he himself could not believe what he had seen when looking on the board where the notes of the students with the corresponding class were hanging.

Of course, he knew that he passed the entrance exam because they had sent him an email a few days before advising that he had place and that he should pay during the first week of school. But he didn't expect to see his name, not after he told them he entered another high school. 

A smile appeared on his lips as he looked at the list, he was very happy to be with his friends.

"Sakuma," came a voice behind him, a voice that seemed angry.

“Good morning, Kidou” Sakuma turned to see his friend and saw him in a bad mood passing in front of the board without stopping to see the notes.

Sakuma raised his eyebrows without understanding, he wanted to see the face Kidou would make when he saw that, but Kidou passed along.

"Aren't you going to look at what class you are going to?"

“1-A, Genda sent me a photo, says he is already in the classroom.”

“Has Genda arrived yet?” Sakuma was surprised, joining Kidou, then he smiled “So?”

“So what?”

“Well …” Sakuma seemed confused by Kidou's reaction, he thought that when he saw that he entered too Kidou would turn red and start babbling some know-it-all nonsense to hide the joy of sharing those years with him “Did you see ... ?”

“If I have seen that I am number two? Yes, I've seen it.” Kidou grunted very angrily and Sakuma raised his eyebrows. “I couldn’t read the name of the first one because Genda's finger was in front, but ... I assure you that this person is only number one because the name goes before alphabetically! No one challenges me that way and comes out unscathed. Nobody!”

Kidou was really angry, in the end Fudou told them that he entered another high school so he could not be with him and then someone appeared on top of him in the grades annoying him even more. He wasn't going to allow anyone to stand above him in class! Not for nothing did he try so hard in private classes with Fudou.

Sakuma laughed out loud as he understood what was happening, yes it made much more sense. Genda did it on purpose without a doubt to annoy Kidou. Sakuma sighed thinking of Genda with a slight blush.

“Kidou, your Kageyama side is coming out, are you sure you don't want to look at who has overcome you?”

“No one has surpassed me! We have the same note. Besides, I don't need to see to know how the person will be… Some rich daddy's child, repellent, smart-ass, with big glasses, cocky…”

Sakuma laughed.

“You're describing yourself, Kidou.”

Kidou growled and shot him a furious look.

They arrived in front of classroom 1-A, Genda was leaning by the door talking to Henmi and Sakiyama, when they saw them the boys turned to say hello.

“Well, well, who deigns to appear? ‘Number 2’ Yuuto and ‘I enter by the narrowest’ Jirou.”

Kidou growled loudly and Sakuma protested as Henmi and Sakiyama laughed at Genda's comment.

“I got 91%!”

“But you hardly stay in this class, Sakuma! How could you have given me that scare? What would I have done alone in this cold classroom holding the tension of Number 1 and Number 2?”

The strategist gave an even bigger growl.

"Yes, sexual tension," Sakuma sighed without Kidou hearing him and causing the other three to laugh even louder.

"We are in 1-B," said Henmi. “But we will enter the football team.”

"I think there are some classes we'll have together anyway," Genda replied, slapping the light-haired boy.

“Yes, it seems so. Come on Sakiyama, let's go to our classroom.”

The boy nodded but before turned to Kidou.

“Kidou, Number 1 is waiting for you.”

The two teenagers left and Kidou raised his eyebrows.

“Who is?” he asked, taking a deep breath ready to mark his territory, perhaps giving his opponent a scare.

Sakuma and Genda exchanged a meaningful look and smiled at the same time.

“You will recognize him.”

Kidou leaned out of the classroom door to look inside. The backpack with the books slipped down his shoulder with a thud; but he was no longer there.

At the second table from the end of class, by the window, a boy was looking for something in his backpack with his back to the classroom door, distracted from his surroundings. 

Suddenly arms surrounded him and someone made a tackle to launch him against him with force. He didn't need to see him to know who he was, his face was smashed against his chest, his heart jumped that special turn, that turn that only appeared with him, for him. A smirk appeared on his lips and he raised hos arms to return the hug.

“I think someone hasn't looked at the access list, eh, Kidou-kun?”

Meanwhile Genda and Sakuma approached them, Sakuma pointed at them with a face that seemed to say “See? I told you so ”and Genda smiled broadly, leaving Kidou's backpack that he picked up on the desk next to Fudou's as they claimed the two in front.

When Kidou released Fudou they greeted him cheerfully.

“I'm glad to see you, Fudou.”

“You fooled us, huh?” Genda slapped him unnecessarily hard on the back.

The boy shrugged with a mocking grimace.

“I guess I'm a box of surprises.”

"Rather, you're Pandora's box," Sakuma growled, crossing his arms.

Kidou looked at him expectantly, despite having jumped to hug him, he could not speak.

"Kidou-kun, you look like a fool," Fudou laughed.

“What made you change your mind? Why did you not tell me?” he finally asked, looking at him curiously.

Fudou blushed and looked away, rocked to his feet and shrugged. Sakuma rolled his eye.

“I wanted to be with my friends ... I thought about it a lot but ... I really wanted to be with you all” the three boys looked at Fudou in amazement, a shy smile tried to appear on his lips “I didn't say anything because it was more fun like that.”

Fudou gave a malicious laugh and looked at his friends. 

“Well, I'm very glad that you decided to enter, now that the four of us are together we will be unstoppable. Sort of like the Horsemen of the Apocalypse.”

Sakuma snorted.

“Don't call us that again, Genda.”

“But it's cool!”

  
The four boys exchanged a few more words before the adult in charge entered the classroom generating immediate silence. They were all standing next to their desks in a military salute with their hands on their hearts.

“Good morning, students” the man left some books on the table and began to introduce himself as the tutor of classroom 1-A.

Kidou sitting at his desk could hardly believe he was awake, it seemed much more like his dreams than reality. If his high school life was going to be like this, he was willing to face whatever it took. With Fudou, Genda and Sakuma at their side they would be unstoppable! Sort of like the Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Genda was right. During the first class he constantly turned his face to check that Fudou was really there. He watched, with the elbow resting on the desk and the head in the palm of the hand, towards the front, with an expression of boredom. However, when Kidou looked at him his turquoise eyes turned towards him, glancing at him, then he closed his eyes slowly, when he opened them he had them fixed on the front again, but a smile appeared on his lips. 

At the end of class he stretched in his seat with a yawn.

"Ugh ... and we are just getting started," he protested, dropping facedown onto the desk.

Genda turned from the front seat and clapped his hands. Sakuma came closer, resting his butt on Genda's table.

“With that disposition Kidou will surpass you immediately, before he was convinced that Number 1 was going to stay short in the first.”

A mocking smile appeared on Fudou's face, he turned and looked at Kidou with his cheek pressed to the table.

“That will have to be seen.”

Kidou smiled confidently, folding his arms and looking straight ahead.

“I am totally convinced, I also have a great tutor to do it.”

Fudou laughed out loud as Sakuma and Genda exchanged suspicious glances.

“Are you taking extra classes, Kidou?”

“Yes.”

“But for what…? If you have a… perfect grade.”

Fudou laughed louder and the students behind moved their chairs slightly away from them. 

"It never hurts to make sure it stays that way," Kidou shrugged.

“Who is your tutor? Sakuma asked, puzzled. “Who can teach you?”

Kidou's lips curled into a smirk and then Sakuma understood everything.

“Oh, god... Was that what you were doing when the two of you meet?”

Genda shook his head without keeping up with the conversation.

“Uh?”

“Yes, Fudou has been helping me for a while, and he will continue giving reinforcement classes.”

Then Genda opened his mouth and laughed, as soon as he spoke Fudou's laugh stopped.

“Did you manage to study something amid all the flirting?”

Sakuma instead found that comment very funny and ended up hurting his stomach. Both strategist complained.

The rest of the day passed calmly, with the presentation of the different classes. When they finished and cleaned the classroom, they went to the Football Club to sign up. Along the way they met Henmi and Sakiyama.

“Do you know if the football team is good?”

“Yes, it is not as famous as the middle school’s but all the players from this usually go to high school afterwards.”

“I think it is weaker because third-year students tend to prefer to focus on studies than on sports.”

“I hope this year we can beat Endou’s team too, it will be fun to have him as a rival again.”

“With the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse ...!” Genda began to say.

“Genda!” Sakuma protested. “No.”

They arrived at the training camp and saw Jimon, Oono, Gojou and Banjou. The boys greeted each other cheerfully.

"How amazing to be able to join the same team again," Jimon smiled. “Next year Narukami and Doumen will also enter.”

At that moment a boy with blue hair came and greeted them all.

"Mizukamiya, you're late." Henmi clapped him on the shoulder. “He's in our class.”

The second-year boys introduced their friends to the other players, of course everyone knew them already.

“This year the team will be invincible!” a slightly delicate-looking third-grade boy smiled.

"You will have to train very hard to be at his level," Gojou warned with a creepy smile.

“This is world level, comrades” Oono laughed grabbing Kidou.

None of the older students took their words seriously, although as soon as the first training began they realized the true meaning of these. The moment the start whistle blew, a feral glow appeared in the eyes of those newbies and they became real monsters.

The excitement at having them on the team soon dissipated. Like a drop of ink in a glass of water. Many of them would be unable to keep up with that pace. 

"How lazy they are," Genda murmured somewhat disappointed in the shower after the first session.

"Easy, Genda," Sakuma laughed. “They'll soon get used to us ... or perish trying.”

Genda opened his eyes in alarm.

"That doesn't relax me at all!" 

Within days, Genda, however, befriended all the other team members. Kidou and Fudou did not have the same luck, their competitive spirit had only grown exponential when they were together again and that made almost everyone who did not know them don’t like them, they were real savages.

Soon Genda, Sakuma, Fudou, and Kidou started being called the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, to the true delight of the goalkeeper and the exasperation of Sakuma who didn't like the nickname at all because it made him look like a villain rather than a hero. Fudou was amused and Kidou was indifferent, even though he did not like horses very much.

A gentle spring breeze carried some cherry petals with it. One of them got caught in Sakuma's hair when he and Genda came out of the locker room.

“You have something in your hair, Sakuma” Genda took the petal delicately, when he saw it he smiled and brought it to his lips, then released it in the wind and they lost sight of it.

Sakuma was very flushed by that.


	14. Memory 13: Dungeons, Dragons & Teikoku

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Genda discovers that Fudou plays D&D and is trying to teach Kidou to play D&D he gets pretty excited. Genda manages to make his friends to play a new D&D Campaign.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the D&D chapter every story needs to have.
> 
> I laughed a lot writing this, but as I know is a filler chapter I add it with the last one. Anyways I hope you'll laugh with it too!

“What do you have for a brain, Kidou-kun? Sawdust?”

The two boys were sitting on either side of the brunette boy's desk, Kidou looked at some papers with agony.

“No need to insult me for being lousy explaining the rules of this stupid thing.”

“It's not stupid!”

Kidou snorted and crossed his arms, at which point Genda and Sakuma entered the classroom and approached them, Sakuma drinking a juice from a bottle.

"I thought I heard your sweet and gentle voice from the cafeteria," he murmured, looking at them with his one eye.

“That's a D&D sheet!?” Genda asked suddenly grabbing the sheet Kidou was looking at as Sakuma stared in horror at his friend.

"Do you know this stupid thing?" Kidou asked, frowning.

Genda's eyes and mouth widened, clearly outraged.

“Stupid thing? D&D is the best game out there! In addition to football.”

“Do you like D&D?” Fudou asked surprised, turning to the goalkeeper.

“If he likes it?” Sakuma muttered.

“If I like it? I love it! Oh you will see when I tell Sakiyama that you also play.”

"Wait, wait," Kidou blinked in confusion. “What?”

Genda moved excitedly, and Sakuma sat down heavily on the chair, looking rather badly at Fudou and Kidou, neither understood the reason.

“Who do you play with, Fudou? I guess it's not with snooty Kidou, no one who plays D&D could talk about it like that.”

Fudou laughed out loud at the sight of Kidou's face, as if he had swallowed a lemon.

“I have been playing for some months with Someoka, Tobitaka and Tsunami. We do group video conferencing to play.”

“Who is the Master?”

Fudou sighed heavily.

“Tsunami.”

Genda laughed loudly and Fudou tried to compose a smile, Kidou looked annoyed at each other.

“Tsunami as Master must be ... spectacular.”

"You don't know that well…" Fudou leaned back in his seat. “In the last game, he threw us a horde of pirate zombie-crab-men, that doesn't even exist ... My character slapped it because of a critic and now I have to make a new one, what a laziness.”

Genda nodded as if he understood Fudou perfectly and his eyes suddenly sparkled, Sakuma straightened in the seat.

"Oh no ..."

Kidou looked at him blankly, Genda rubbing his hands and jumping from one leg to the other full of excitement.

“Why don't we do a campaign too? We can tell the others. Sakiyama and Narukami will love the idea.”

"But Genda," Sakuma replied, putting a hand on his back, although he was silent because he did not know how to continue.

"Sounds like a good idea to me," Fudou smiled. “Maybe and I could be the Master ... this game offers many possibilities.”

“Ah, no, Fudou. The Master is Sakiyama. It is always Sakiyama.”

Sakuma snorted and looked at Kidou with a dumb request in his eyes; but just then Henmi and Sakiyama passed to the class and Genda called out to them.

“Guys! Guys! Do you want to play D&D?”

Sakiyama's normally angry eyes widened in surprise and released a flash of happiness.

“D&D? When we start?”

"But the studies," Sakuma protested.

"Ah, don't be a party pooper, Sakuma," Sakiyama replied. “If we meet every two weeks to play it will be enough.”

“But …”

“I'll be a Druid!” Genda exclaimed, slapping Sakuma on the back. “I have never been a Druid and I like it as it is in the last edition.”

"I think I'll make an Explorer or maybe a Sorcerer," Henmi muttered thoughtfully. “Narukami surely chooses a Bard.”

"he always choose a Bard, he should change classes sometime," Sakiyama snorted. Fudou stretched and thoughtfully.

“In such a case I will be a Rogue. In the game with Tsunami and the others we chose by luck and I had to be a Barbarian ... I do not like too much jumping into combat without thinking.”

The boys kept talking animatedly, Kidou and Sakuma didn't seem so happy.

“-What will you want to be this time, Sakuma?” Genda asked with a huge smile.

"Whatever," he growled.

“Are you still upset because in the last game your character exploded?”

Sakuma's growl was a sufficient response and everyone laughed.

"Come on, Sakuma," Fudou scoffed. “I also died in the campaign and I don’t cry like a baby.”

“I don't cry like a baby! Also I do not care. It's not like I’m still upset with Genda because his character tried to open a Mimic in a chest twice! and he will end up throwing an explosive potion at my character instead of the stupid monster.”

"I got a 1," Genda apologized. “Three times in a row.”

Everyone but Kidou and Sakuma laughed.

“What class should Kidou take?” Henmi asked looking at the boy with evaluative eyes.

"A Warlock," Fudou replied immediately.

They all agreed and said to go that same afternoon after classes to Genda's house to prepare for the campaign. Sakiyama texted Narukami and Doumen to tell them.

* * *

Genda's mother was surprised to see her son arrive with seven more people, she suddenly felt a cold sweat and when her son came to greet her she asked in a trembling voice.

“D&D?”

“Yes!”

She sighed heavily, every time her son played D&D they made so much noise… and that afternoon they casted their favorite drama novel on TV.

The boys went to Genda's room, a simple, well-ordered room with some photos of their friends and a poster of a rather large roaring lion. A cat was sleeping peacefully on the bed, until he saw them arrive, he stretched and hurried out of the room, not without first rubbing Genda's leg.

The boys settled in as best they could while Genda took a chest that he had kept with enough dice for everyone.

Sakuma sat cross-legged on Genda's bed, a position of power that everyone knew only Sakuma could occupy, Genda sat next to him. The rest settled on the floor. Kidou was pressed against Fudou.

"Okay ..." Sakiyama rubbed his hands and looked at his companions. “As Kidou has never played D&D” the other boys, except Sakuma, booed him “I am going to explain how to create his character while the others choose what you want to be.”

"I will be a bard," Narukami replied immediately, everyone laughed at him.

After an hour and a half of creating the sheets for their characters, writing and making studs, the boys dried their sweat. The window was open in an attempt to draw in a non-existent breeze.

"Okay, guys," Sakiyama clapped his hands. “It is time for you to introduce yourselves. Who wants to start?”

Genda jumped and moved to indicate that he would start, as he spoke he tried to force his voice to sound feminine.

“Hello, adventure companions. My name is Sarabi Dekuin, I am a 25-year-old half-elf druid who travels the Earth in search of a lost relic stolen from my tribe by wicked men and which serves to resurrect an almighty spirit. My mission is to retrieve it before they can misuse it and return it to its temple before the balance of nature in the place is lost.”

Kidou blinked as everyone whistled with approval, how had he ended up with that bunch of geeks?

“My turn!” Narukami exclaimed, and then changed his voice, making it much higher and waving his hands. “Hello, band! You have in front of you the best bard and dancer in the town of Shortation, Lele McUke I’m a 17 years old haffling who travel the world with my dear Lira to become famous and earn money, lots of money! Because who doesn't like money? Also I want to eat every city’s speciality.”

A round of whistles greeted the Narukami character, then Doumen cleared his throat.

“Hello, brothers, I am Grolg Deathhammer, devout cleric of God. I may be an orc but I’m into the Peace and Love path. I felt the call of faith during the battle of The Biting Rock when my people fought against an army of Goblins, fate decided to give me a new opportunity allowing me to get out alive. now I want to spread God’s words around the world and make this world a better world with my own hands. I will pray for your health and heal your wounds with my healing magic, but remember that those who are healed the most are not the healthiest, but the one who receives the fewest wounds.”

Kidou put his hand to his forehead with a nervous tic. The others clapped Doumen, even Sakuma started participating. Henmi asked for the turn and spoke more acute even than Narukami.

“Friends, comrades! Let me introduce myself I am Merryn Ginging, a 28 years old forest gnome, My dream is to unravel the deepest secrets of alchemy and the immortality of the Philosopher's Stone and I’m willing to make what it’s needed, for this cause I will use all my knowledge of magician. While we travel together my magic will be at your service. I’m friendly if you don’t touch my potions and I’m even friendlier if you let me your body to experiment.”

Everyone whistled loudly at Henmi, of the remaining three none seemed especially enthusiastic to be next. In the end Sakuma was the one who continued, breathed and got on act.

“My name is Annatar the son of Bauglir, a draconid paladin who travels from the distant island of the Dark Earth” some laughed at the references to LoTR “to avenge the massacre of my people at the hands of a necromancer. My strong desires for justice are only stronger than my sword, I will defeat all who stand in my way to reach my goal.”

“And the mimics?” Sakiyama laughed.

“Mimics the most!” Sakuma shouted, raising a fist to the air and making everyone laugh, except Kidou.

Fudou inadvertently touched his hair and nudged Kidou, realizing he turned to him with his hand on his arm in apology.

“It seems like it's my turn…” Fudou had never had to play his character so seriously, but he told himself to do it well because not doing it well would be more embarrassing in that situation. “Do you not know who I am? I will only say it once so remember it well, my name is Arachne Hamalstar, 21 years old drow of the noble lineage of the Castle Under the New Moon Mountain. I am looking for a gem that has the power to grow plants at night for my people, what is said to be in the claws of a powerful black dragon. Although perhaps along the way I can find many other things of value to acquire with my skills as a rogue or my sympathy.”

It was Fudou's turn to receive the applause and whistles, the boy smirked and everyone looked at Kidou.

He looked down and coughed.

“Is it necessary?”

“Of course!”

Kidou sighed and nodded not too convinced.

"Well ... hello, I suppose ..." He cleared his throat a little, his face was red.

"Cheer up Kidou, we've all been rookies once," Doumen cheered him up with a thumbs up.

“My character is called... I mean, my name is uh... my name is” Kidou checked his character's sheet, Fudou had helped him with the name “Kythos Yiodoom, I am ... a ti-tiefling and hmmm I am a warlock? Yes, a warlock, with a thing called pact with an Infernal Being... And hmmm ... I want ... I want to recover my honor because I was accused ... of something that was not my fault and I was exiled.”

Kidou lowered his face all embarrassed with a moan of anguish but Fudou put his arm around his shoulders and shook him against his body.

“Hey, well done to be so unimaginative.”

They didn't whistle at Kidou, but instead they all told him that he did well and that he should continue like this.

"Well," Sakiyama smiled, "I'll have a character this time too… so…" Sakiyama suddenly produced a very serious voice. “Yaar, adventure comrades. My name is Gim'bod the skull buster, a barbarian dwarf from the South Isles, I lost my ship and crew in a storm in the Sea of Tempests, now I travel as a mercenary and I will put my axe of any patron who pays me with gold coins and a good beer. I know that someday I will sail the seas again, meanwhile our paths are one.”

The boys laughed and applauded him, Kidou snorted, Fudou still didn’t release him and was still stick to his body, but it didn’t bother him, it was undoubtedly the best of that afternoon.

Sakiyama looked at his teammates and started with a short game that wanted to be more of a tutorial for Kidou on how to play than a real game. The characters coincided by various fate coincidences at the Prancing Penguin Inn in Crossroads City and found out that the Major’s daughter was kidnapped by gnolls who took her to the forest.

The characters had to track him through a forest full of dangers, the biggest of them the 1s that sometimes came out on the dice and made them fail their actions, like when Genda failed the last roll to climb a tree and fell about Sakuma or like when Kidou shot for hiding from a patrol group of gnolls.

"Let's say it like that," Sakiyama laughed. “Kythos covers his face with a couple of leaves and believes that no one will be able to see him.”

They all laughed loudly, although that action spotted them and they had to fight the gnoll advance, leaving Henmi’s character almost dead.   
Then they came to some ruins where they had the mayor's daughter tied up at a ritual table. After a hard battle in which curiously the mayor's daughter was the one who did best after being unleashed, the group of adventurers returned to the city of Crossroads to claim their reward for such a feat.

“Do we level up?” Narukami asked immediately when finished.

“No, since we are many and the adventure was easy, we didn’t earn much experience.”

“Easy?” Kidou growled puzzled, he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown most of the time.

"I'm sure it's the mayor's daughter's fault," growled Genda. “She has stolen our kills.”

"We should have killed her, she sure gave more experience," Doumen confirmed.

“Weren't you a servant of God?” Henmi chided him, hitting him on the head.

They said goodbye when it was quite late, they was playing five hours in a row, Sakuma stayed a little longer with Genda while everyone else went home speaking loudly. He heard Kidou and Fudou walk away arguing about something related to their characters.

“Are you happy to play again?” Genda laughed, hugging him from behind joining a cheek on his cheek.

"I guess," Sakuma growled, blushing and clutching at his arms as Genda rocked him.

Just then the boy's mother appeared, wrinkled her nose as she entered the room and observed the two boys, Genda immediately released Sakuma who almost fell flat on his face, both of them had red faces; the woman rolled her eyes at how stupid teenagers could be.

“Please open the window, Koujirou …” but then she saw that it was already open “and spray air freshener, your room stinks of stable” Genda blushed even more and the woman turned to Sakuma with a friendly gesture. “Jirou, honey, do you want to stay for dinner?”

"Y-yes, thank you," he replied with a smile.

The woman nodded and left, leaving the boys alone again, Sakuma huffed and dropped onto the bed while Genda changed his shirt because he sweated a lot and his armpits stunk.

The cat appeared timidly out the door, saw that there were no more unknown savages, and jumped to lie on Sakuma's belly, curling up and purring as the boy scratched his ears distractedly.

Genda saw his cat and a jolt of envy ran through his body, how he would like to be able to lie down on Sakuma's belly himself while they boy caress his head too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! If you're enjoying my story don't be shy to write a comment I love reading them!


	15. Memory 14: Summer Camp

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The summer comes again. When Kidou is in the middle of a private leasson with Fudou his mother enters with news, a letter from the Football Federation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I hope you'll enjoy this new chapter!   
> The next two are chapters I love a lot (my two fav this far) and I'm really happy the story is reaching them finally.

After the rainy and stormy month of June, summer arrived in full force in the city of Inazuma, the sun shone in an immaculate sky and people were seen walking with ice creams through the streets and covering themselves with icy wipes in an attempt to get rid of the moisture that was reaching them with its sultry hands.

Two boys walked around dressed in a military-looking summer uniform. One of them stopped at a small store crammed among the rest of the buildings on the street they walked. When he came out he was carrying a colored bag that he opened taking out a popsicle with two sticks that he split while the other boy looked at him, he handed him one of the halves.

“Here, Kidou-kun.”

The boy with the blue goggles smiled at the popsicle Fudou offered him and took it.

“Aren’t these things to share with your partner?”

Fudou blushed and looked sidelong at him.

“Who cares?”

Kidou was thoughtful for the rest of the way enjoying the melon-flavored popsicle, until they reached a building of single-family houses where Fudou lived, the boy turned the key in the lower door and they passed to a cool landing, where they stayed a moment to take a breath finally covered of the scorching sun.

"Refreshing" Fudou murmured with happy expression.

Kidou stretched and headed for the stairs to go up to his friend's floor.

They crossed the community gallery and stood at the front door of the house, where Fudou turned a pair of keys again with a clink of his key chains. One of them was a figurine of a half-peeled banana that Kidou had given him a few days before saying that it reminded him of the boy.

“Come on.”

The house was dark, windows covered to protect from the sun. As they entered, the fresh, invigorating air was felt again, a draft of air chimed bells.

“With your permission.”

Fudou rolled his eyes at his friend's formality and took off his shoes anyway, going inside, to his room where he threw the backpack on the desk and jumped onto the bed, lying on his back. Kidou entered shortly after, closing the door behind him, carefully placing his backpack on a chair and lowering his goggles, looking at Fudou with a half amused half smug smile. Fudou's stomach was exposed and he couldn't help but sit next to him and tickle him.

Fudou protested and tried to protect himself, pushing Kidou against his bed and sitting on top of him, his arms pinned against the bed and his knees beside his hips.

Kidou blinked a bit confused to find himself suddenly like that, he cleared his throat a little to let go of the bubbles in his stomach.

“Shall we start the class?”

Fudou shook his head slightly and nodded.

“But without tickling.”

“No tickling.”

The boy's turquoise eyes evaluated him for a moment and he released his arms, as soon as he was free a mocking smile appeared on Kidou's face and he quickly grabbed Fudou throwing him on his own body and tickling him again.

“Hey! Liar!”   
Fudou stirred like an eel with laughter and spasms, and licked the other boy's cheek, drooling him, getting Kidou to release him completely.

"How disgusting you are," Kidou complained, trying to wipe his drooling cheek with his bare forearm.   
Laughing, Fudou ran out of the room and went to the fridge to find a cold drink so he could cool off during class.

  
Kidou dropped onto the bed in the meantime, covering his eyes with his hands. He felt the pounding in his chest and a flush on his cheeks, he had actually become accustomed to feeling this close to Fudou. He bit his lip. It had been more than a year since they met and he was not able to understand how he could live before. He sighed, nervous once again to be at the boy's house alone with him, since his mother worked late most days. Each touch, each look, each sigh, each laugh made him feel an enormous burning within him, and although he camouflaged himself by saying that all those feelings were due to being very close friends, in truth he did not feel anything similar for anyone else. 

A cold contact on his cheek made him jump back to reality, he stood up abruptly and saw Fudou's bright eyes laughing at him, as he offered him a can of soda.

That class was much more relaxed than the previous ones, the heat made them drowsy and Fudou ended up dropping his head on Kidou's shoulder with a snort. The boy shuddered, that only managed to raise the temperature even more. A joyous clink sounded from time to time, when the bells managed to catch a breath of air.

He was thoughtful as his hand traced letters on the paper automatically. He was grateful that Fudou had decided to continue teaching him, those reinforcement sessions really came in handy for the boy to finish understanding the subject. However, the fact of doing them at Fudou's house was a double-edged sword ... 

He remembered the accident that led them to have to change the place of the classes: the first session they went to do during that school year his father was at home, Something not too unusual, although it was unusual that he called his son Yuuto to the living room to show him a galleon model he had acquired after years of follow-up at an auction, spending several million yen. Fudou, out of curiosity, approached and stumbled over the carpet of the place, falling on the model that was destroyed. Kidou had never seen his father so angry, he never saw him much anyways. Fudou was not even able to maintain his arrogant facade with the screams of the man, he ended up pale and with his face screwed up, assuring him that he would do whatever it took to compensate him for what he had done. The man after calming down said that he would turn a blind eye in order to not upset Fudou’s mother as long as they stopped doing the private classes at his home. Both teenagers were perplexed to see how the man's cheeks flushed and he left the room with a pompous walk. So they had started going to Fudou's house for their classes, since they had no other place.

“You seem distracted, Kidou-kun.”

Kidou looked up out of the trance he was in, frowned slightly and looked directly at him.

“Why do you say that?”

"Hmm." Fudou grimaced and pointed at the page. “You just wrote my name with a heart.”

Kidou winced, blushing and hurried to look at the paper, there was no such thing written and let out a sigh of relief. Then his ears turned red and he turned angrily to face Fudou, who was holding his mocking grimace and laughed violently.

“You're a jerk, Fudou!”

Kidou pushed Fudou to the ground and sat on top of him pulling on his cheeks, at that moment there was a soft knock on the door and Fudou's mother appeared. Seeing them, he blinked for a moment and then a smirk similar to his son's appeared on his lips, making them both blush and Kidou hurried to get off Fudou.

"Sorry to bother you, I just got here and came over to say hello." The woman's eyes were on them, they didn't look back at her. “Will you stay for dinner today too, Yuuto?”

The boy nodded and the woman with a smile withdrew closing the door.

Yes, without a doubt doing the classes at Fudou's house was a double-edged sword... Kidou snorted and threw himself back on the ground, as he stretched out his arms he could notice the fingers of Fudou, who had made the same gesture at the same time. They both lay there, saying nothing, their little fingers intertwined.

The door opened again and Fudou raised his head.

“By the way, Akio. This has come for you.”

The woman tossed him an envelope with extraordinary precision and the boy took it in flight. She left again leaving the boys alone. Fudou looked at the envelope bearing the Football Federation seal.

Kidou also saw him and sat up to watch as the brunette boy opened the envelope with a curious look. He unfolded a letter with the same seal and read it briefly.

"Uh." His eyes flashed and he handed the letter to Kidou for him to read.

It was an invitation to participate in a special summer convention that the Football Federation organized for young football players across the country, a Football Camp.

“Sounds good” Kidou raised his eyes, surely he would have one just waiting at home, although moved by emotion he called to make sure; indeed he had also received an envelope sealed by the Football Federation.

"It says it will be during the last two weeks of July," Fudou observed excitedly. “Not much left.”

Kidou nodded and smiled, the boys completely forgot about the leasson and began to speculate on who else would be there.

The voice of Fudou's mother telling them that dinner was ready brought them out of their conversation and Fudou stretched with a yawn.   
Fudou and Kidou helped bring out the deliciously smelling food and the three of them sat around the dining room table. 

“One of these days you have to cook for Yuuto, Akio. You will surely love it.”

Kidou who was blowing a piece of meat raised his eyes and looked surprised at Fudou.

“Do you cook?”

He shrugged his arms but his mother continued.

“Akio is a very good cook. But he only cooks when he feels like it, maybe if it is for you it will motivate him enough.”

The woman winked at her son, whose ears turned red and groaned.

“Yeah, yeah... I'll do something someday.”

Kidou continued to eat with a curious sense of expectation, why did he want to try Fudou's food so much? He didn't expect him to be talented in the kitchen. 

At the end of dinner the woman got up and announced that she would go to the living room to watch television as she always did. It was a kind of unwritten rule that they were responsible for washing the dishes after dinner. Kidou scratched the back of his neck, how had he ended up feeling that naturalness at his friend's house? How many times had he already stayed for dinner? Every week since the school started in April.

Fudou got up after dinner and began to take the dishes, bringing them to the kitchen to do the washing, Kidou helped him carry the rest of the dishes and after cleaning the table he returned to his friend, leaning on the side of the dish rack. His red eyes fixed on him. Fudou looked at him and seemed to find something amusing.

“Don’t you want to wash? You always stay watching as I do.”

Kidou suddenly blushed and stepped back a bit, Fudou's amused grimace grew even bigger.

"Kidou-kun," he said with a purr. “Don't tell me you don't know how to wash dishes.”

Kidou lowered his head and slowly shook his head, making Fudou laugh.

“That's not right, Kidou-kun. Knowing how to do housework is a prerequisite for a good husband today.”

The boy's face was redder than a poppy and he stammered something.

“I don't need to know how to do those things, that's what servants are for. Besides ... what difference does it make, you know, right?”

Fudou laughed and looked at him provocatively, with that hint of flirtation in his voice that at some point had gone from being unconscious to something entirely on purpose.

"Are you implying that you want to be my husband?"

Kidou snorted with a thousand heart at that comment, denying it immediately, beads of sweat ran down his neck.

“I only imply that you can teach me.”

Fudou tapped his chin thoughtfully.

“Fine.”

He grabbed Kidou's wrist by wetting him with wet hands and placed him in front of the sink, went to his ear and whispered to him.

“But I will charge you a bonus for this.”

Kidou's hair stood on the back of his neck as he felt Fudou's lips in his ear, and he jumped when he bit down on it, immediately covering it with one hand, annoyed.

“Bad, bad, Kidou-kun, your hands should be on the plates.”

The boy rolled his red eyes and took a deep breath, puffing out his chest in a desperate attempt to calm himself, but to no avail. His friend's turquoise gaze was on him, and the dishes slipped as if they were alive.

"I have never seen someone wash dishes so badly," Fudou scoffed. “Even young children do better.”

"Shut your mouth," Kidou growled, trying his best as the water splashed everywhere.

Fudou laughed and positioned himself behind him, his hands on top of his and his face in the hollow of his neck, pressed against his head.

“Let me give you a hand ... or two.” 

The wealthy family boy's cheeks flushed at the contact. Fudou's hands guided his provocatively, his breathing made his neck stand on end, he felt his chest pressed against his sweaty back, he felt his hips behind his.

“Are you taking note, Kidou-kun?” he whispered back into his ear.

“I try!” he growled.

After a while Fudou released his hands and Kidou lets out a moan of protest.

“Let's see if you have learned the basics.”

Kidou nodded, but the glass he was carrying dropped immediately because Fudou left his wet hands on his chest. He noticed Fudou's soft mocking laugh in his ear. But the boy furrowed his eyebrows and took the glass again, showing that he had indeed learned the basics, something totally not impressive considering that he was sixteen years old and should have known for a long time.

At the end Fudou reluctantly parted, heading back to his room. Kidou told himself that his friend should pay for that, he did not know when but he would take his revenge. 

He wiped his hands and looked at the stack of clean dishes, a smile appeared on his lips, somehow as simple a task as washing dished made a small glimmer of joy shine within him. He looked at the shirt that still had the water stains that Fudou left on his chest and snorted, rushing to return to the bedroom until they went to look for him to take him back to his house, these times they always played video game. At least between the meetings with the guys from Teikoku to play D&D and Fudou's classes, he could spend a little more time with him, during training they didn't have many opportunities to talk.

* * *

The day of the start of the Football Camp came quickly, Fudou waited patiently at the door of the Raimon Institute where they were going to be picked up, he was carrying a huge luggage bag hanging from his shoulder and he was moving somewhat nervously. Some of Inazuma's companions began to arrive, among which was a large part of Teikoku and Raimon teams. They were not all there because some of them had to reject the invitation to face some extra classes during the summer. Someoka approached Fudou screaming in delight as soon as he saw him.

"Hey, buddy." He ruffled Fudou’s hair, which was quite long for what he was used, and set his own bag on the floor. “I am looking forward to starting the camp.”

Fudou looked at him with an honest smile.

“Me too.”

Although the brunette boy was very tempted to leave with Kidou when he arrived, he decided to stay with Someoka, greeting the other boy from a distance with a shake of his head. Just then Tobitaka appeared and Someoka hugged him tightly.

“You're in your bones! Are you sure you eat well?”

The appellee nodded and looked at Fudou, both bumped fists.

Within an hour all the teens gathered on the Raimon School football field. Fudou was surprised to discover how many people came to greet him, more or less effusively, but coming. Haizaki practically run him over with a hug, Endou left a reddish mark on his back, while other people only hit him all five. That made him enormously happy, he had friends. He really had wonderful friends.

He blinked up at the sky, a little over a year ago... that would have seemed like an unreachable dream. 

Someone blew a whistle, and an older man with a white beard approached with a loudspeaker. Two more people stood beside him. One of the men was Kudou and the other was a short, chubby chinese man with a funny beard.

“Attention!”

Little by little there was an expectant silence and the three men were surrounded by the teenagers.

Hibiki explained to the them what they needed to know, they would go to Nagano prefecture to a special pension that the Football Federation had built that could accommodate up to 100 people, where the players from the rest of the country would meet with them. 

The trip would be made in a large 60-seater bus, among the responsible adults, managers and players, the bus was full despite the lack of colleagues from other areas. During the Football Camp they would train all together, doing several random matches every day mixing the players regardless of their original team, in order to get them used to playing with any teammate. 

Of course since they were in summer in the afternoons they would have free time to go to the nearby towns and enjoy the different festivals and other summer activities.


	16. Memory 15: Oxygen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kidou has fever so he has to stay in bed all the day while in the Summer Camp, Fudou does his best to take care of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is one of my favourites, I really like chapters about a character taking care of a sick friend/love/dear person. I hope you'll like as much as me!
> 
> If you're liking my story don't be shy to left a comment or as many as you want, it's something that really makes my day!   
> Thanks for reading.

Fudou Akio was eating breakfast with a voracious appetite, for some strange reason that day he felt an immeasurable hunger, when he approached to ask to refill the rice bowl for the third time Aki looked at him with concern. 

“If you continue like this you won't be able to move later.”   
"Let him eat, he has to grow up," laughed an older girl with orange hair and a bow on her head, Nonomi, who used to work with Toramaru's mother but had offered to help in the kitchen during that camp. 

Fudou returned to his seat, not many comrades had come down yet, in fact at that time only ten of the more than seventy players were in the dining room. Kabeyama was there, he was always one of the first to go down to breakfast and one of the last to leave.

A short boy who arrived at that moment sat next to Fudou with his tray.

“Good morning, Fudou.”

"Doumen," he growled with his mouth full.

His Teikoku's friend laughed and began to give a good account of his breakfast.   
  


The dining room began to fill with the noise of the animated voices of the teenagers, Fudou was thoughtful. The Football Camp was being remarkably fun. Not only could he spend a lot of time with his friends, but he could practice his favorite activity, annoying people.

The place where they stayed was spectacular, it was a pension with individual rooms for each of them. The last floor was for the girls, the boys were forbidden to go up to it. Fudou was on the second floor, wall to wall with Kidou. Each room had a large space with a bed, a wardrobe and a desk, as well as a bathroom with a toilet and shower; for what seemed practically a hotel. In addition, and that was what most excited the teenagers, the pension a large swimming pool.

  
Every morning at 8:30 the boys were grouped into six random teams and had to play half-hour matches against the other teams. The team that lost from each match had to carry out a short training-punishment before continuing with the next match. And whoever lost by more points each day received a special punishment, which often consisted of cleaning the kitchens after dinner.

After lunch, from 12:00 to 13:00, they took a short break for digestion, they continued an hour and a half more with special training depending on what they played each day, and after 15:00 they had free time to enjoy the afternoon. The curfew was at 7:00 p.m., dinner time. Although many days they would let them out again until 22:00 or if there was some special activity in the neighboring town, until later. 

Fudou looked up suddenly, almost all his companions already arrived; but he didn't see Kidou anywhere. And he was always very punctual.

“Where's Kidou?” he asked suddenly feeling bad, hoping he hadn't gotten sick from the joke that ended in the accident the day before.

"I've heard Coach Kudou say before that Kidou is feverish and will be spending the day in bed," Kogure reported, then with a characteristic chuckle continued. “It seems your joke took its toll.”

Fudou stifled an agonized groan and immediately rose from his chair. Almost everyone turned to see him striding out and exchanged a few words with each other. They immediately heard screams of protest and began to laugh.

“Hey! Let me go! Loose! Let me go! I have to go up to my bedroom!”

Coach Kudou appeared through the door of the dining room dragging Fudou who was resisting like a wild animal.

“Leave Kidou alone, do you hear me? I'm going to keep an eye on those stairs to make sure you don't go upstairs to disturb him.”

“I do not know what you are talking about! Kidou? What Kidou? I don't know any Kidou!”

The adult's gaze made him understand that he was not going to make it through those stairs and he left the building kicking angrily. Weren't they letting him up the stairs? Perfect, he would find another way to get there.

In the outer field he collided with Suzuno and Nagumo and they almost had a fight, until Someoka got in the way to separate them.

“Fudou seems in a very bad mood today, right?” Kurimatsu said to Matsuno who laughed, Handa beside him sighed with regret.

Fudou went around the building, looking for the window that corresponded to his friend's room. When he arrived he realized it was open, the curtains were moving very gently in the breeze that was still blowing.

“It's a sign.”

The boy's vivacious eyes searched around him for a way to reach the window and he immediately found a way to get there. There was a tree that grew a few meters from the wall of the building and that went up several floors high. Getting to Kidou's room on the second floor would be easy, after all, how difficult was a three-meter jump when you summoned penguins to play football?

He began to climb the tree with feline agility, his hands easily found a safe route to advance, and he began to gain height. He did not notice that some of his companions were looking at him.

“I bet a thousand yen he falls.”

“I bet an ice cream that he hits the wall and falls.”

“I bet a turn washing the kitchen that he is short in the jump and falls.”

"Done," another boy smiled, not missing a thing.

Fudou reached the height of the window, got as close as he could through the branches, and calculated the force necessary to reach the other side. After the immediate mental calculations, he picked up momentum and leapt determinedly toward the window. He managed to grab onto the windowsill and sat down with an innate freshness on it, pushing himself against the wall.

Sakuma smirked, he just won Kazemaru a thousand yen, an ice cream from Midorikawa, and he would free the next time he had to clean the kitchen thanks to Afuro.

* * *

  
  
Kidou was lying on the bed with his whole body aching, burning feverishly and his joints grinding. It was unbearable, he couldn't stand that. If he was covered he was very hot and if he was uncovered he was horrible cold despite being in the middle of summer. The worst was his head, he was very bored but was unable to do anything because of the throbbing pain like a continuous pulsation that prevented him from even thinking clearly. He couldn't even sleep. He couldn't bear being sick, it was too frustrating.

He shifted on the bed, but couldn't find a position where he felt more comfortable than any other. He was falling asleep when he heard a knock outside. He thought that perhaps some stupid animal crashed into his window, forgetting that he had opened it before to ventilate the rarefied room. So when he heard that what he scratched outside came in, he got one of the biggest scares in a long time. Fudou just entered the room as if there was nothing more normal or easier than jumping from a tree to do so. He smirked at Kidou.

“Wow, Kidou-kun; I didn't think I'd ever see you in such a pitiful state.”

Kidou got up with difficulty and the cloth that he wore on his forehead, to lower his fever and which had long ceased to be wet, slipped and fell on the sheets. Fudou looked at him with a sly smile and laughed out loud, gentle enough for him to be low.

"It's so pathetic that even now you wear those glasses on," Fudou scoffed, approaching him, Kidou felt a spike in temperature, that was bad. “How can you wear that after you called Narukami a geek for dancing and singing as his bard would do in D&D?”

Fudou reached out and took off his goggless, leaving Kidou's red eyes unprotected, the brunette boy smiled and caressed his cheek raising his hand to his forehead to measure his temperature. A shadow of concern twitched his mocking expression for a moment. Without saying anything, he took the cloth that had fallen and moistened it in the bathroom, wringing it out later so that it wouldn't drip.

“Are you skipping training?” Kidou asked with difficulty.

"No, I’m not," Fudou scoffed. “I'm following my dream of being an opera singer. What do you think? Or does the fever not let you think? Of course I'm skipping training!”

He sat on the edge of the bed, forced Kidou to lie down again, and brushed aside a couple of dreadlocks that covered his sweaty forehead, leaving the cold, comforting cloth on him. Kidou trembled at the contact, those gestures were loaded with a tenderness that he never believed he could associate with his friend. In a moment of lack of clarity, he thought that he would love that he had left his hand on his forehead, although then he noticed that Fudou stroked his head, passing softly between his brown dreadlocks, that was not bad either.

He looked askance at the brunette boy and realized that even if his body was next to him, his fingers gently stroking his brown hair; his mind was far away. Maybe he wouldn't be doing that otherwise. Kidou closed his eyes feeling a strange peace in those gestures full of affection; he liked that touch, so soft, so tender, so strange ... It brought so much calm to his feverish mind, to his burning body, he felt a light heart and little by little his breathing slowed down until he fell asleep. Surrendered to pain and fever.

When he woke up he did not open his eyes immediately, he felt slightly better; the hammer blows to the head were gone, though his joints were still stiff and rusty. He sighed, wondering if Fudou would still be there, although perhaps it had been a dream from the beginning. Surely when he opened his eyes there would be nobody in his bedroom. What time would it be?

He opened his eyes slowly, lazily.

"Is Sleeping Beauty already awake?"

Kidou blinked, searching his eyes for the source of the voice, surprised that it was still there.

“Fudou?”

“No, I'm Harry Potter, don't you see?”

Kidou smiled wearily and ran his hand over his eyes.

“That would explain why I feel enchanted by you.”

He wanted to sit up but the boy's firm hands stopped him, his eyes gleaming.

“What nonsense you say, it must be the fever.”

Fudou removed the cloth from his forehead and went to moisten it again, during all the time he remained there, he was aware that the fever did not rise by wetting the handkerchief over and over again to cool Kidou’s head.

“What time is it?” Kidou asked feeling relief with the cold cloth on his forehead.

"Three o'clock in the afternoon," Fudou replied, glancing at Kidou. “You slept a lot, Kidou-kun, although that is good to recover sooner. Who would say you were a weakling?”

The boy settled himself between the sheets and looked at Fudou slowly.

“Have you been here the whole time?”

"Yes," he shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal.

“Why?”

Their eyes met and Fudou shrugged again, moving without knowing what to say in truth.

“By the way, before your sister came with a tray of food and she also left you some medication.”

“She said something to you?”

“No ... I ... I hid, so she didn't see me.”

Kidou blinked in confusion.

“I don't care if someone see you in my room, I don't mind if you're here.”

The brunette boy let out a soft chuckle that seemed more like the noise of some animal.

“You should eat, Kidou-kun, you have to regain strength.”

“I'm not hungry.”

However Fudou stubbornly insisted and in the end the other boy gave up. He helped him up by placing the pillow behind his back so that he could be sitting on the bed and brought him the tray with the food.

"Maybe I should have woken you up so it wouldn't stay so cold," the boy commented almost to himself as he uncovered his food.

When Kidou saw the food, he felt an unpleasant upset stomach, he was totally lacking appetite.

“I do not want to eat.”

“Eat.”

“No.”

“Eat.”

“No.”

Fudou groaned and took the spoon himself, filling it with the curried rice on the plate and bringing it closer to Kidou's mouth. The boy answered unconsciously and opened his mouth like an automaton. Fudou widened his smile and refilled the spoon.

“The plane is coming …”

Kidou snorted.

“Asshole.”

“One for dad ... one for Kageyama…”

Kidou slapped Fudou, although he spent too much energy on it, and didn't stop Fudou from moving the spoon in front of his mouth. Kidou groaned and took the spoon from him to eat himself, the other teenager laughed as he looked at him with flashing eyes. It was the first time that he took care for someone who was ill and it gave him a strange feeling of happiness, his flushed cheeks glowing on his face.

While the patient reluctantly finished the meal, his rookie nurse prepared the medicine for him, an effervescent envelope that he dissolved in a glass of water. The medicine was bitter and Kidou made a disgusted face at the other boy's mocking smile.

When Fudou took the glass to put it on the table a powerful roar that came from inside his guts as the call of the underworld echoed in the room. His ears turned red and Kidou who was feeling much better raised his eyebrows.

“I can't believe it ... you haven't eaten.”

Fudou shook his head without looking at him.

“I could have shared my food.”

"I am not going to die for not eating one day," replied Fudou, not wanting to give it more importance. “Also you need to eat to recover.”

“Why didn't you tell Haruna to bring you something?”

The boy's white hand ruffled his hair and his turquoise eyes went straight to Kidou's reds, a mischievous glow locked in them, as if he was going to tell him an extremely amusing secret.

“Actually Coach Kudou expressly prohibited me from coming to see you. He said he would watch the stairs to prevent me from coming, if he finds out that I'm with you …”

“Is that why you came in through the window?"”

“Yes.”

Kidou laughed out loud, though that caused a jolt of pain in his head. His hands trembled a little, why would Fudou have done that? Why did he stay there with him without even eating? Why was he so happy about his company at that moment?

The boy lay back down with Fudou's help and they were silent for a while. Kidou breathed calmly, or at least as calmly as he could, because the brunette boy sat next to him and occasionally touched him on the forehead to make sure that the cloth was still wet and that the temperature did not rise. Kidou sighed thinking how much it meant to him that Fudou was constantly watching his condition for so many hours.

The afternoon progressed and the sky began to darken, Fudou tried to make Kidou comfortable at all times, the boy after eating had fallen asleep for a couple of hours again, leaving his friend immersed in the whirlpool of his mind. Opening his eyes again he realized that Fudou had taken him by the hand.

"Sorry ... I fell asleep again," Kidou murmured, finding that he was getting better and better.

Fudou shook his head and wanted to withdraw his hand, Kidou when noticing pressed it against his and Fudou swallowed nervously. After a while he turned to him.

“Kidou ... I'm sorry ... I'm so sorry you got sick because of me.”

His red eyes that had closed again widened and he looked in surprise at the boy's troubled face.

“Are you apologizing?”

Fudou’s expression of grief became exasperation in a few thousandths of a second.

"You are very slow today, Kidou," the appealed huffed wounded.” Yes, I am apologizing. I am apologizing for throwing you into the river yesterday afternoon, I did not expect that we did not return immediately and you caught cold.”

“Don’t worry.”

Fudou gritted his teeth.

“You are sick because of me, Kidou.”

A deep sigh made him raise his eyebrows without understanding, Kidou turned to him with a slightly sad grimace.

"So you are with me only because you feel guilty?"

His voice sounded distressed and the other boy's turquoise eyes stared at him intently.

“No ... I'm with you because I want to be with you, if someone else had thrown you ... I'd also be here.”

"Although there is nobody else so mean" Kidou murmured, although later he reflected, there really were quite a few people capable of doing these things, among them a boy with blue hair who gave him a very bad feeling.

There was a slight silence until Kidou spoke again.

“Why?”

A soft smile appeared on Fudou's lips without help, he stroked the cheek with the back of the index finger, a caress that tickled his stomach.

“Because I care about you, stupid.”

Kidou was very surprised at that, the expression, the voice, the words ... all of this produced a very warm feeling. He raised his hand with some difficulty to pat his shoulder, but instead his hand came to rest on his face, caressing with his thumb with the lightness of a feather. Fudou felt a heart skip and froze, as if any gesture could trigger a disaster. His heartbeat was so strong that he thought that even Kidou could hear it, deep emotion gleamed in his dilated pupil eyes.

"I think that oxygen isn’t reaching your head today, Kidou-kun, be careful not to be left behind," Fudou finally said, unable to bear the tension that caught them.

However, he himself took the sick boy's hand delicately and leaned his face over it, making the entire palm of Kidou's hand come in contact with his skin, it was so nice to feel Kidou's skin on his, the skin. Kidou's was slightly rough and mysterious.

Kidou let out a pleased sigh.

"You are my oxygen," Kidou murmured, closing his eyes, letting himself be carried by the contact, "like a breath of fresh air."

That caught Fudou by surprise, and he felt himself getting even more nervous. What did that mean? Was it just another proof that the boy was not doing well that day? Kidou opened his eyes, his expression lost in the vastness of the ocean in his gaze. 

Then Fudou let himself go for the moment, leaned back on him, arms stretched out on either side of Kidou's head. His eyes locked on his, his nose almost touching his. Kidou took a deep breath, gazing up at him, lost by the fever in the boy's aura of attraction. His heart began to pound much louder and her cheeks flushed.

"Do you want me to do something about it?" Fudou asked in a whisper imbued with sensuality, his lips lightly brushing his.

"Yes," he replied in the same whispering tone, with a knot in his stomach in anticipation.

Fudou's lips curved into a flirtatious smile.

"Then I’ll make sure that enough oxygen reaches this brilliant brain of yours."

Kidou nodded, breathing hard, feeling the blood run through his body raising the temperature in a different way than the fever acted. 

But before they could cut out the space they needed to kiss, they heard loud footsteps approaching down the hall and someone banged open the door, as a voice spoke angrily.

“If he's here …”

“Coach Kudou, wait …”

Two people appeared at the door, a man with purple hair and a teenager with spiky hair, Gouenji, who asked Sakuma about Fudou after spending all day without seeing the boy, with the bad luck of being heard by Kudou, who immediately imagined what happened. 

  
Of course, neither of them expected to find the two strategists that way, Fudou winced and was paralyzed feeling the aura emitted by the adult. Gouenji was simply stunned and looked at the boys with wide eyes. Kidou turned red.

“Fudou Akio! I warned you to leave Kidou alone!”

Fudou tried to stammer out an excuse but the man grabbed him by the arm and led him away with nothing to do but protest and try to get free.    
Kidou snorted and met the mocking gaze of Gouenji who didn’t yet leave the room.

“Tomorrow you will clean all the bathrooms in the building by yourself!” they heard the man yell at the teenager as they descended the stairs.

Gouenji saw the empty food tray and went to pick it up, then without erasing the smile on his face he commented.

“Your sister will bring you dinner right away, although I think you would have preferred to eat something else, huh?”

Kidou covered his face with his hands ashamed, and growled something unintelligible to him, hearing the boy giggle and the door close behind him.

After he got out, he lowered his arms again. His face was very red, although he doubted it was the fever this time. He raised his fingertips to his lips, annoyed that the Coach took Fudou, after all, he was taking care of him. Soon after, he fell asleep again, wondering in one last flash of consciousness why he felt this way about his friend, wondering what would have happened if they hadn't been interrupted.


	17. Memory 16: Stars in the sky

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The summer camp is ending, Fudou's back aches at night and he decides to go outside to get better as he need movement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, I'm sorry for the lack of activity. These days have been hard at work (a lot of work -which is good- but also we changed our store furniture and that was exhausting) and I also was in down mood with Inazuma and my writtings. I haven't been able to write nothing properly... This chapter is the last one I have written, I hope that for next week I'll be able to write.  
> If you like my story or any other I have here I'll love to know! I love comments (they make me wanting to continue writting) and any other way of support.   
> Thanks to everyone who reads them, seriously!
> 
> I'm going to submit another KdFd one-shot I did some time ago. Don't hesitate to have a look!

The moon magically glowed in the dark, bright, white, over the night sky, a silent watcher. It was a full moon. The stars dotted the heavenly dome like drops on a canvas. Silence reigned in the place, everyone slept.

With a sudden stab of intense pain, that brown-haired boy woke up with a start and covered in sweat, large drops running down his back to which his pajama top had stuck. Hectic breathing. He didn't know but he had screamed in dreams.

His back was stiff and it hurt a lot, like if a dog was biting him. He took a deep breath trying to ease the pain as Coach Zhao taught them during Football Camp. After several minutes of breathing and an intense burning in his back, he managed to move enough to search a pain killer in his desk drawer. That was not a good thing, would there be any real injuries? There were only a few days left of the Camp and he did not want to be sent home, or worse, to a hospital. He didn't want to miss the end of that fun event.

He walked tremblingly to the window and looked out, the bluish moonlight bathing the grass in silver and giving the place a mystical appearance. He wiped the sweat from his forehead, even though his window was open there wasn't a breeze blowing. He needed to move so that his back returned to normal, he was not going to be able to sleep again in any other way.

He left the room in silence, making no noise with his bare feet. He went downstairs and left the building with great precautions not to be discovered, leaving after bedtime was completely prohibited. But he needed to walk, he would only approach the grass meadow next to the pension, he would not do anything reckless.    
  
As soon as he came out he felt a night breeze caress his skin, relieving some of the heat he felt. Fudou was a hot boy, even in winter he wore hardly more than shorts and a slightly thicker jacket than usual when he was not wearing the school uniform. This bothered some of his friends, such as Kidou, making the brunette bear more influence on that type of clothing for the mere pleasure of teasing them.

He moved in circles for at least half an hour so that his back was regaining the flexibility that was due to him, Gradually leaving being rigid as a plank. He dropped onto the grass, he couldn't let anyone know. When he returned to Inazuma, if it continued to hurt, he would go for a checkup.

He thought he heard footsteps in the distance, but he did not turn, believing that it was some nocturnal animal, perhaps a fox, because… who else would be such an idiot to go out at that time of night?

“Can't you sleep Fudou?”

The boy bounced on the grass, causing him to have a new spasm of pain.

“Don’t you fucking know how to warn or what? You almost scared me to death!”

Kidou giggled and Fudou snorted, answering his question.

“I'm not the only one apparently.”

“No, you're not.”

Kidou sat next to him and they remained silent, Fudou tried to calm his heart after the scare, but it was in vain, being so close to Kidou would not succeed. Kidou's hair was loose and a sporadic breeze waved it.

Fudou realized that his red eyes, free of the usual ghastly gloggles, were fixed on him.

“What's your problem, Kidou-kun?”

“You.”

Fudou's mouth opened indignantly, but the other boy continued before he could protest.

"Your back still hurts, right?"

The brown-haired boy closed his mouth and lowered his head. He felt the look of intense concern of his friend on him.

“No.”

“Don’t lie to me.”

“I don’t lie.”

One of Kidou’s eyebrows arched.

"I've heard you scream in pain from my room, Akio. You sleep on the other side of the wall.”

"I don't know what you're talking about ..." He suddenly stopped. “Akio?”

His friend shrugged, but the boy felt a strange bubble of happiness in the pit of his stomach.

“Is there a problem?”

Fudou shook his head.

"No" his turquoise eyes smiled at him. “It was nice.”

Kidou said nothing, just blushed, looking ahead.

  
The brown-haired teenager leaned back, lying on the cool grass, pearls of sweat running down his neck from the heat and humidity; he stretched his arms perpendicular to his body and sighed heavily. The sky was full of little twinkling lights. What nonsense to feel happy to hear his name on Kidou's lips, of that voice increasingly serious and deep with the hormonal change, that voice that increasingly attracted him more and more. His memories wandered back to that moment a few days earlier when he was about to kiss Kidou.

A couple of minutes later Kidou imitated him and lay down on the grass, although he left his head on the boy's outstretched arm, it caught him off guard and a small gasp escaped Fudou’s lips when he felt the weight. But he did nothing to change it, he felt comfortable like that.

They remained silent, observing the stars that could be seen so clearly from that place. A Universe over them. It was their first time, their first time looking at the starry sky together, their first time to think that perhaps they felt more than friendship for each other in a more definite way. A shooting star crossed the sky.

Kidou moved his arm and his fingers brushed against Fudou's, after a while and without either of them knowing exactly when, both of them had their fingers intertwined, holding hands.

Above them floated a magical atmosphere, an invisible bond, a deep rapport. 

"Forgive me," Kidou suddenly muttered, puzzling Fudou who raised his head without understanding.

“For what?”

“You were injured because of me.”

A sad smile curved the turquoise-eyed strategist's lips, Kidou apologizing was very rare. Maybe because he seldom had a reason to apologize, and maybe because the times he did, his pride kept him from being honest. 

“It was not your fault.”

“If you had not had to intercept the ball from Ichihoshi that was going to me …”

Fudou sighed and turned his head.

"Listen to me well," but then he was silent for a few moments, how to express what he wanted to say? How to put into words that sensation in the pit of his stomach? That fire that burned in his heart. “I will put myself in the middle of anything that could hurt you, I don't care if it's a ball, a person, a weapon…”

“Akio …”

“It was my decision to get in the middle of the shot, and I don't regret it at all. Because I…”

“Yes?”

“Because you weren’t damaged, that is the most important thing to me.”

The brunette boy bit his lips when he discovered that what his head was going to say was ‘because I like you’, so ... then ...

They were silent, again none knew what else to say. Kidou's heart was pounding, he wanted to say something to him, he wanted to answer. But what could he answer to that? That he cared and regretted that he was hurt? That he would rather be hurt than Fudou be? 

He remembered as a jolt the terror he felt when Fudou was launched due to the force of the shot when intercepting the hissatsu that was going to hit him. He fell in slow motion, several meters away with a particularly horrible crunch, spitting blood and falling unconscious; for a distressing second everyone playing that match feared that Ichihoshi had seriously injured Fudou, for a terrible moment Kidou thought that Fudou would not get up again. Although the blue-haired boy just laughed with a psychotic sparkle in his eyes at that. Then there was great chaos, because Kidou jumped to hit the boy, and when Kidou intended to hit someone, he did it. Genda and Someoka were able to separate Kidou from the other boy after he punched him several times and left a black eye, in fact they did not rush too much. At that time the adults intervened, unaware of what had happened before. Fortunately for Kidou, his teammates testified that Ichihoshi's blows were for a lost ball and the strategist was not punished. When Fudou regained consciousness moments later he was greeted with tears of relief from his friends. Kidou could breath again.

“It doesn't hurt that much, okay?” Fudou interrupted his thoughts abruptly.

“I know you're lying.”

“All right, it's true, it hurts horrors; but only occasionally. It doesn't hurt right now, okay? I am also young, in a short time I will be like new.”

Kidou laughed out loud and whispered to him.

“They say that bad weeds never die.”

Fudou let out an indignant snort looking up at the sky, he who was trying to be honest and kind to Kidou ... The two of them were silent again for a few moments.

“It's going to be a year, right?” Kidou turned his eyes to Fudou but did not answer “That's why you couldn't sleep, right?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Kageyama's death.”

Kidou's lips tightened and his face blanched. He heard Fudou snort and was suddenly hugged tightly against him.

“I'm sorry I didn't realize before you were sad, Yuuto.”

“I …” Kidou stopped, took a deep breath noticing the smell of his friend, he could smell something refreshing, possibly his deodorant, there was also a slight touch of mint and even though the boy had showered a few hours before he could notice the acidic drop of sweat covering his skin from the heat, Kidou felt his stomach churn and he felt a sudden need to feel his skin; He swallowed with a great effort to control himself “… I'm not sad.”

For a few moments, only the breathing of both teenagers lying on the grass, holding each other, could be heard, Fudou gently caressed Kidou's head.

“You are very strong, I admire that about you. Anyway, if you ever feel less strong …”

Kidou closed his eyes, clutching Fudou's back, he didn't say anything, but wrapped his arms around him even more, it was a very intimate hug.

"I don't understand why it continues to affect me," Kidou murmured, trembling slightly despite the heat.

Fudou didn't say anything, but Kidou didn't expect him to say something to him, not until he was sure Kidou finished venting or wanted him to say something.

“It's not even that his death makes me sad ... I don't understand, why do I feel so bad?” 

This was a wound that kept bleeding and could not heal, Fudou remained in that hug. A hug that relieved the grief of Kidou's heart. After a few minutes of silence, Fudou decided to intervene.

“Maybe you expected Kageyama to pay for all his evil actions, for everything he did; with death that is pending.”

Kidou blinked.

"Then is it ... because don't I forgive him?"

The brunette boy bit his lip, wondering how far he should give his opinion; he just wanted to comfort his friend.

“Maybe who you don't forgive ... is yourself.”

That made Kidou stir.

"I already got over the chains that tied me to Kageyama, you were the one who ...".

"No, Yuuto" Fudou gently shook his head. “I do not mean that.”

Kidou felt a cold fury rise from his stomach, he couldn't help but sound aggressive when asking.

“What do you mean then?”

At any other time Fudou would have been more than willing to respond in the same tone and start a fight; but he couldn't afford to lose his temper at the time.

“You don't forgive the damage you did following his orders …”

Fudou's voice was lost in the darkness and he noticed Kidou's hands tensed on his back, digging his nails painfully.

“I am aware that I didn’t do well; but I know it wasn't my fault and ... "

“Yuuto" Fudou moved one of his hands, bringing his index finger to his lips to silence him. “Knowing something does not mean understanding it, it does not mean feeling it. I know what I'm talking about …”

Kidou's red eyes widened in the gloom and he looked up to see Fudou's sad expression, felt as if someone slapped him, and looked down again, biting his lips in fury. He blinked in frustration, he believed they had advanced to a bright future, but the stormy clouds of the past overtook them again.

"Perhaps what you least forgive yourself ..." Fudou continued with a hesitant voice, "is that deep down you appreciated him."

Kidou looked up in horror at Fudou and found that something just opened, something that he wished had remained closed. He wept bitterly, unable to help it, unwilling to accept it. Fudou's arms wrapped around him again in a comforting, protective gesture. Fudou breathed in turn, feeling a strong emotion grow in his heart.

“I can't help you forgive yourself... it's something you should do by yourself. But …” Fudou's voice became soft and trembling “Your past makes you who you are now ... your bad and good decisions, your bad and good actions, your bad and good experiences; And I… I wouldn't be here if it weren't for all that, and neither would you.” His voice became little more than a sigh. “Yuuto, you are someone very dear to me. I‘ll stay at your side whatever happens even if this is the only thing I can do for you.”

Kidou's hands on his back suddenly softened, though his embrace grew more desperate for a moment, until the pain passed. Like a leaf carried by a river.

Kidou's mouth went to the other boy's ear in a whisper.

“Thanks, Akio.”

And he really felt that gratitude spread through his body, like a ray of sunshine with golden light.

Fudou shook his head, downplaying it; although during the following days he would be more attentive to the state of his friend. After all, that wound would still take time to close, there was no magic solution for something like that; just time and self-forgiveness.

They remained silent, holding each other in the privacy of the night until Fudou let out a snore that made Kidou jump. 

“Hey, uh …” the dreadlocks boy gave Fudou a couple of blows on the cheek to wake him up and he complained in his sleep until he woke up with a puzzled expression “We should go to sleep.”

“I don’t want.”

“You fell asleep here.”

“I don’t want.”

“You can't sleep on the floor, idiot. You will catch cold and it will be worse for your back.”

“No.”

“Akio.”

“I don't want ... I don't want to be alone.”

Fudou noticed the surprised expression on Kidou's face without the need to see him, his red eyes remained fixed on him and his lips moved closer to his ear again.

"Sleep with me then ..."

Fudou's face reddened faster than Sakuma's resending a penguin meme. He turned to Kidou, expecting to find a mocking grimace indicating that he was messing with him; but he only found the boy's honest and sincere gaze.

"Do you ... do you want me to sleep with you?" 

Kidou's lower lip trembled and he nodded nervously.

“If you... want too.”

Fudou blinked in puzzlement, his heart racing more than any other time that night. Kidou looked down, eyebrows twitching in a sad grimace, thinking he was stupid, why had he thought Fudou would accept that? It was not so normal, not even among best friends ... He regretted saying anything.

“Forget it, it was nothing.. I didn't want to bother you ... I just thought that …”

“Hey, hey. Don't jump to conclusions.”

Fudou's hands took Kidou's face and forced him to look him in the eyes, surprised that the boy seemed so affected because he didn’t answered immediately. Of course what he least wanted was to hurt him.

“I will sleep with you.”

They entered the pension wrapped in the same silence with which they left until they reached Kidou's room and breathed with relief that they wasn’t discovered. They washed their dirty feet on the dirt outside and climbed into the boy's bed with a pounding heart. Fudou passed by the wall, feeling a strange nervousness.

Kidou put an arm under his friend's neck, allowing him to place his head on it; the other arm hugged Fudou's body and pulled him towards him, turning Fudou’s towards him. Fudou remained silent, breathing hard. His head was on Kidou's neck and his lips could touch his skin. He noticed the boy's breathing on his face, like a fresh breeze, he noticed the body odor of the dreadlocks boy and he felt that the smell attracted him as much as any other aspect of him, he noticed the palpitations of his friend's heart and was surprised to discover that their heartbeats seemed synchronized.

  
He closed his eyes feeling strangely at ease, a sense of security and peace building inside him. He released the air in his lungs, yawned loudly, and fell fast asleep in that hug. He was exhausted.

Instead Kidou was slow to fall asleep, pensive in the dark cloak of the night. Noticing Fudou's calm and slow breathing on his neck, he felt a chill run through his body, that strange need to feel his skin assaulted him again. The hand on his body ran uncertainly over his friend's bare arm, why did he feel such a strong attraction for him? His relationship was completely different than with any of his other friends. Fudou's lips brushed his skin in dreams and he felt a stomach twist and a huge burning inside. Could he like Fudou? Was that it? ... But no, it couldn't be. Kidou let that thought pass, afraid to dig into that deep attraction and spoil those precious moments between them, afraid that Fudou would discover it and get away from him, afraid to ruin everything.

They woke up hours later in a jumble, Kidou's alarm clock started ringing too early for the brunette who growled loudly as the other turned it off by reaching out and groping with his hand.

"Good morning," Kidou murmured, rubbing his eyes and feeling the weight of Fudou's leg on his belly. He replied with a grunt and yawned, sitting up, totally disheveled, making Kidou laugh. “Did you sleep well?”

Fudou wiped some drool that fell from the corner of his lips and nodded, trying to assimilate why he wake up next to Kidou and blushing as he remembered the events of the previous night. Kidou stretched, his shirt was very sweaty and Fudou's due of the way it stuck to his body, was too. He checked his own body odor by bringing his nose up to his armpit and snorted wrinkling his nose.

“I think I'm going to take a shower, I've sweated a lot tonight. You also should.”

Fudou shrugged and asked mockingly.

“And would you also want me to take the shower with you?”


	18. Memory 17: Chocolates and a white rose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The school year is going on and it reachs February 14th, Valentine's Day. While waiting the classes to end, Fudou can't avoid but think about his year and how luck he feels in that moment of his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for the long waiting, again. I had writting block because I barely have free time and this chapter took me a lot to being written. I'm not so happy about how it turned but it's the best I could do by now.
> 
> But I broke the "I can't write at all" so I hope I could return to my own pace. 
> 
> This chapter altough I'm not so happy with the writting style, shows how Fudou is moving from the loniless and is going to be an important turning point (one of them).

Fudou looked out of the window at the thick leaden sky, dark clouds were beginning to cover the early afternoon light and the musty smell that characterized the onset of a storm reached his nose.

He yawned and in the reflection of the glass he found Kidou looking at him out of the corner of his eye, their gazes connected through the window and Kidou looked forward again with red ears. A slight smile appeared on Fudou's lips as he yawned again without worrying about hiding it despite being in the middle of a school class. 

He felt happy, he felt lucky. A strong gust of air protested the window panes and outside the trees creaked in the harsh weather. Thick drops of water began to hit the windows at the same time that a ray of light drew a flash fork in the darkening sky. Someone screamed when the loud rumbling of thunder exploded near them.

Fudou leaned on the palm of his hand watching the development of nature outside. They were already in the middle of February, February 14th specifically, a date that seemed to have awakened an unstoppable spirit in the girls throughout the country. Fudou could not help but giggle and his eyes went to Genda who got throughout the day an exaggerated amount of chocolates from girls, some of whom he did not even know or barely remember seeing. Sakuma seemed to have a tic on his eyebrows and the brunette boy found the silver haired glancing at his blue-eyed friend, pursing his lips and refocusing on the teacher with a growl. If Fudou hadn't been in the middle of a class he would have laughed.

Instead he let out a slight sigh, that year was being so incredible that sometimes he still found it hard to admit that it was even real. 

They ended the Summer Camp organized by Football Federation with a beautiful fireworks festival, Fudou had been popping firecrackers alongside Haizaki and Hiroto until other friends joined them. Later he ended up on his butt in a small river that Kidou pushed him into with a mischievous smile in revenge for when it was the brunette boy who did it to him days before. Fudou surprised by that, burst out laughing amid the noise of the others and when Kidou held out a hand to help him standing up the turquoise eyed boy pulled his hand making his friend fall on him. Both ended up drenched, fortunately the night was warm and neither became ill.

After that Tsunami invited Tobitaka, Someoka and Fudou to stay a week with him in Okinawa. Fudou had never particularly enjoyed the beach, but that time he thought he was seeing the sea with new eyes. They screamed among the waves trying to make each other goads, they looked for crabs, they surfed, or at least they tried, they walked at sunset on the beach telling jokes and remembering anecdotes and they even went diving. That week made his discolored skin gain some color and his eyes shone with that intensity that only the sea gives. Upon meeting again with Kidou, who had been so bloody boring that week, Fudou gifted him a particularly pretty shell that he found one day. That cost him several days of mocking from Sakuma when he found out.

Not long after, Genda had practically forced Sakuma, Kidou and Fudou to spend a few days in an Equestrian Center that some relatives of him had in the mountains. He wanted to live up to his nickname of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Fudou discovered that he liked to horse riding while Kidou discovered that he did not like horse riding. However, his pride and vanity did not allow him to back down and he ended up on the ground more times than Fudou on the bench during the FFI. These days were funny and the boys learned the basics.

Going back to school and his routine was somewhat disappointing after that summer, but everything changed again when the start of the inter-high football tournament, the national championship for high school students, was announced. Training became tougher and more intense, although his team was disqualified after a few rounds when playing against Endou's team. Endou had become the immediate captain of a team in which in addition to him several teammates of the Raimon like Someoka, Kazemaru, Handa, Matsuno and Gouenji played, and like if that wasn't enough Afuro and Osamu played in that team too. In the other hand, Teikoku Superior High School captain hadn’t allowed Fudou or Kidou to play after a heated discussion between the two boys and him shortly before the match about the game's strategy because both strategist saw big holes on it. As Genda stated after leaving the football field with sadness, it would have been difficult even with them playing, but at least the captain was a third year and the following year they would no longer have to be ordered by such an idiot as captain. Genda had the hope that Sakuma would be the new captain.

By Halloween Narukami had gotten his other Teikoku friends to dress up with him and go asking for sweets around Inazuma, even Shimewhining joined them. During that night they met other costumed friends touring the city, such as Gouenji, who accompanied his sister and Toramaru, looking ashamed and Midorikawa with Tatsuya both dressed as aliens.

Christmas was calmer, although he constantly met Kidou to study and even one afternoon Fudou ended, somehow he could not explain, at a karaoke with Haruna and some friends of hers too excited by songs that the girls shattered wildly every time they opened their mouths. The girls looked at him constantly and whispered to each other with giggles, fortunately Kidou answered his help request through mobile message and appeared a while later, despite the fact that his expression made it clear that he preferred to be anywhere else. From that moment on, the girls looked at the two of them and whispered things between laughs and made them sing several love songs in duet without either of them understanding the reason; until one of them asked them openly and without any shame which one was the dominant in their relationship. After a moment of stupor, each one assured that it was himself, then Haruna between laughs really explained to them what his friend was referring to. At that moment they both decided without having to agree on words that they had had enough karaoke that afternoon.

And finally there was his birthday, a week before. For the first time in his life he had a surprise party. That afternoon Kidou asked Fudou to accompany him to the Raimon Football Club because he had to give Kurimatsu some papers and he did not feel like going alone, Fudou reluctantly went with him at the beginning; but he owed Kidou one for saving him at karaoke. However, when he reached the dark room and the lights swatch on as his friends screamed in unison wishing him a happy birthday, he felt his heart skip a beat and the emotion flooded him. His cheeks were flushed and Kidou's eyes fixed on him didn't miss a beat as an honest smile appeared on his lips.

That February 14th, on the other hand, would not be a special day for him. No girl had come to give him a Valentine's chocolate nor expected it because he had no friendship with any classmate aside his friends. Kidou hadn't received any chocolate either, and that was something that was reassuring for the brunette, even if he couldn’t understand why. Sakuma, on the other hand, had received several chocolates. But no one in his class received as many as Genda.

Fudou stretched again when class finally ended. He was numb from the sound of the rain and wanted to get home soon. Genda and Sakuma turned, talking animatedly, although Sakuma tensed every time a female classmate passed by them just in case she gave Genda more chocolate. Kidou stayed sat for a moment. 

Suddenly, and to the surprise of the other three boys, he got up as if he was shocked, approached Fudou's table, left violently a small package wrapped and before any of them could react, he disappeared at a brisk pace across the classroom door.

The turquoise-eyed boy looked puzzled at the package and tore the poorly wrapped paper to reveal a small box of chocolates. He felt the intense and mocking gaze of Genda and Sakuma on him. His cheeks burned and he put the package away without saying anything.

"Uuuh, Fudou how lucky you are," Genda and Sakuma started laughing.

At that moment Henmi entered the classroom followed by Sakiyama.

“What’s up?”

"Kidou gave chocolates to Fudou," Sakuma explained with a laugh.

The other two boys looked at each other and joined in the laughter.

"And you haven't given him chocolate, Fudou?" Henmi asked with teary eyes.

Fudou growled in response.

"How ugly, maybe Kidou was expecting some too," Sakiyama murmured. “Surely now he feels so sad that he is forced to jump off the roof.”

“Sakiyama!” the other three friends chided him.

Fudou opened his eyes wide and after biting his lips ran out of the class with his heart in his throat, would he have hurt Kidou by not giving him anything?

But Kidou had no intention of heading to the roof where the fierce rain was falling, nor had he expected to receive chocolate from Fudou or anyone else. So at that time he was dealing with some girls he met in the corridorl and who wanted to give him a chocolate that he kindly tried to reject.

“Kidou!”

Fudou's voice made Kidou feel a chill. For some reason, he didn’t ever thought about what would happen after giving the chocolate to Fudou.

Fudou reached his friend relieved and looked badly at the girls who backed away at the intensity of his eyes, he took advantage and took Kidou by the hand and pulled him to lose himself among the students who were making a stir when leaving their classes to go to their clubs or home.

When they reached the entrance of the High School, Fudou stopped and Kidou followed his movement too.

"They are just chocolates to thank you for the private lessons," the boy in goggles rushed to comment on the circumstance in which he felt greatly pressured.

His friend blinked in surprise and then laughed, though his voice was tinged with a subtle hint of disappointment that Kidou was able to catch with great surprise.

“Of course, thanks anyways Yuuto. Although I have not given you …”

“It doesn't matter. I didn’t expect anything.”

Kidou's ears flushed and he reached for his umbrella to cover himself from the rain. Fudou instead jumped outside not caring that the thick drops immediately greeted him with an icy twist. 

“Akio, be careful, if you get wet you can catch a cold.”

“What are you, my mother?” Fudou growled jumping in a puddle and splashing Kidou who protested immediately.

"I think he is rather something like your wife," a voice laughed behind him, Genda looked at them with his bright blue eyes and pulled out his own umbrella while trying not to drop the chocolate packages.

The two strategists turned away, ignoring that comment, although Kidou approached Fudou to cover him with the umbrella.

"They're just ‘thank you’ chocolates," he said once more, looking seriously at his friends.

“And what do you thank him for? Being a jerk?” Sakuma asked with his umbrella open waiting for Genda to come out as well.

Fudou gritted his teeth with deadly glance but just at that moment they heard several girls shouting Genda’s name in the distance and the boy rushed to leave with Sakuma.

The girls were too late, although several went after the teenager without caring that it was raining.

"I'm glad I'm not Genda," Kidou murmured, waving his hand to say goodbye to Jimon, Oono, Banjou and Gojou who left the institute while chatting animatedly. Jimon was eating several chocolates at the time and seemed cheerful.

"Me too," Henmi's voice corroborated behind them, Sakiyama beside him gazing absentmindedly at the dark sky. “So did you give Fudou chocolate, Kidou?”

“They are thank you chocolates!” Kidou exclaimed, causing Sakiyama to take his eyes off the sky.

"What envy," the boy murmured. “I also want thank you chocolates ... Henmi?”

"Don't look at me," Henmi murmured, frowning, "Unless you want me to thank you for the time you threw dirt on my lunch…"

We were five years old," Sakiyama protested. “When are you going to forget about that?”

“Never.”

The two boys started arguing away from Fudou and Kidou who followed them with their eyes and then smiled knowingly.

"Do you want me to walk you home, Fudou?"

The boy turned to Kidou and shrugged, although his eyes said something completely different.

Once at his house, Fudou dropped onto his bed with the box of chocolates in his hands, when he opened it he was almost as surprised as when Kidou left them on his desk. The chocolates were irregular and rough looking, just by looking at them one could realize that they were not sophisticated designer chocolates as Fudou believed they would be, but rather they looked like homemade chocolates. Homemade chocolates made by someone with a very bad hand in the kitchen. He sat cross-legged on his bed, gaping at them for a moment, before taking one with his trembling hand and putting it in his mouth to savor it. He immediately felt a tear come to his left eye. There was no doubt that Kidou himself had made those chocolates. They were not good, in fact Fudou thought they were the most horrible chocolates he had ever tasted, the mix was far from passable and they had too much sugar. And yet… And yet he would not have exchanged those chocolates for the best ones in the world, since they were made especially for him by someone very special to him. To Fudou they were the best chocolates ever.

For several days, the two strategists had to bear the jokes of their friends, including Gouenji and Kazemaru who learned about it from Sakuma. Fudou kept silent about the fact that the chocolates were homemade because it would only have added more wood to an already too hot fire.

* * *

Kidou scratched his head nervously, sitting in his usual chair for private lessons at Fudou's house. That day, according to custom, Fudou should give him a gift to correspond with Valentine's chocolates. But it was not because of that that he was nervous, but because the date of the final exams was already there and that would be the last class, the last opportunity to solve any academic gap before the moment of truth.

However, he couldn't help but get lost in a current of thought in the middle of the class. Would Fudou know what day it was? Would Fudou know what the boys who received chocolate on Valentine's Day did on March 14th? Kidou was not sure, somehow doubted that Fudou had ever received chocolate for Valentine's Day, he was not an especially sociable person and other people used to avoid him as normal. Not to mention that except for the last year the boy had a past in which Valentine's chocolates did not seem to fit too well.

“You're distracted, Kidou-kun. If you are not careful you will fail your exams.”

Kidou looked up and his red eyes met his turquoises as the boy laughed teasingly. Kidou couldn't help a huge smile, Fudou's fingers brushed the boy's bare forearm and he felt a warm heart twist. If he started to think about it, the rest of the world seemed simply stupid for not trying to understand Fudou.

“Yuuto?”

The boy shook his head and came back to reality.

“Sorry ... I was thinking.”

-Yah, I noticed. May I know what is so important for you to ignore my master class?”

Kidou bit his lip and before realizing it he answered frankly.

“I was thinking that most people are stupid for not trying to befriend you, they don't know what they are missing.

It caught Fudou by surprise, he looked at Kidou for a moment and then looked away with rosy cheeks.

“I do not care. I don't need more people ... I have good friends and there is also you.”

There was a slight silence in which both boys felt their pulse accelerate.

“Why am I in a group separated from good friends?”

Fudou looked Kidou in the eyes again and that intense and honest look was enough to make him gut. The cinnamon-haired boy leaned over his friend without losing that connection. 

“Why, Akio?”

Fudou felt saliva getting stuck in his throat and he had to swallow consciously, his pulse shot and his back sweaty. Kidou's face was barely inches from his.

“Because you…”

“Hello, guys.”

The door to the room opened suddenly and the two boys sat up when they saw the brunette’s mother appear with an exhausted expression. They both hoped that she hadn't realized how close they were before the interruption, sadly for them, she was an observant woman.

“I told you a thousand times to call before entering!”

“Last class before exams?”

"Yes," Kidou replied politely as Fudou tapped the table with irritation with his fingers when he noticed how his mother ignored him.

“Will you stay for dinner, Yuuto?”

“If you do not mind.”

“Of course, you’re always welcome, Yuuto. You already know that you are part of the family. Maybe someday legally.”

Fudou snorted blushing and Kidou remained silent although with red ears. The woman closed the door with an amused look and they heard her go to her room.

The long call after the woman announcing that dinner was ready was the sign that their last class had ended.

"Thanks, Akio," Kidou murmured, stretching and gathering his notes while rubbing his tired eyes with his other hand. 

After dinner and cleaning the kitchen the two boys returned to the brunette boy's room, that night they both were unusually silent and barely made jokes as usual. They were both thinking about exams that would start in a few days. Fudou was also thinking of something else. While they were waiting for Kidou’s driver to come pick up the boy, the two boys played a videogame of exploiting aliens in which Kidou was especially skilled.

With a snort and a sudden movement, Fudou dropped the game controller on the ground and tossed Kidou a package out of pocket. The boy caught it with great skill despite being caught by surprise. He looked at the small package wrapped in a horrible garish green paper with pink dots. Was it his White Day gift?

He curiously opened it and discovered a penguin keychain with a soccer ball. It was one of those football merchandising toys, and that was one of the penguins that he invoked when playing. He smiled with the keychain in his hand and looked up to thank Fudou, perhaps it was not the most splendid gift in the world but it had a special meaning. Looking up, he discovered that Fudou was offering him a second gift, it was a flower with a semi-transparent wrapper and a bow. A white rose.

Kidou's red eyes stared at that flower for a moment, his lips were separated and shone under the room light in a tentative way, why had Fudou decided to give him a white rose? Puzzled he looked up again. Fudou's expression was one of total vulnerability, Kidou took the flower too perplexed to say anything. Did Fudou understand the meaning of that flower? Was it just a coincidence?

"Thanks, Akio," he murmured awkwardly as he felt the blood flow through his entire body, raising his body temperature. “I thought you wouldn't remember.”

“I like to create expectation.”

Fudou shook his head, but Kidou did not notice because he was looking at those two objects again feeling enormously moved. Shortly after his mobile vibrated, that was the sign that they were waiting for him on the street..

Kidou stood up and picked up his backpack, said goodbye to his friend's mother and went to the door to put on his turquoise eyes of Fudou, following him silently. 

“See you tomorrow, Akio …”

But before Kidou could leave, Fudou grabbed his arm to stop him, Kidou opened his eyes in surprise but could not ask the reason because before doing so, Fudou briefly joined his lips with those of the other boy. It was a small kiss that barely lasted an instant, but it was enough for both of them to burn as if they had lit a bonfire inside. 

“What …” Kidou babbled feeling silly not being able to express anything better.

Fudou scratched his head.

“I wanted to wish you luck with the exams ... A bit of fresh air, you know …”

The brunette boy shrugged, Kidou blinked hard and then laughed out loud.

"Sometimes you have very strange ideas, Akio." Kidou moved closer to Fudou's ear and whispered, grasping perhaps more tightly than necessary the white rose he was holding in his hand. “Although perhaps you should have left it as a congratulation kiss for my perfect grades in the exams.”

Fudou sighed feeling those nerves in the pit of his stomach, but when he spoke he did it with that arrogance and that flirtatious tone that made the other boy boil inside.

“Get a perfect grade and we'll see what happens.”

Kidou smiled petulantly and both boys said goodbye with a bumpfist.

However, when Kidou was alone in the back seat of his car, he was thoughtful without taking his eyes off the white rose, putting his index and middle fingers to his lips. That fleeting and unexpected kiss made him realize how long he had been waiting for their lips to touch again with any excuse that could be given since the last time. Maybe the white rose wasn’t a coincidence at all, the flower trembled in his hands. 

He had to get a perfect score.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you don't know, White Roses symbolize pure love, secret love, eternity and gratitude, gifted to your partner it's a promise of eternal love. It also says "I'm worthy of you". All of these fit Fudou's feelings for Kidou.
> 
> Thanks for reading! I'll try to write next chapter for Wednesday, if not, I'll update on Sunday. Thanks for your patience and for staying with me!
> 
> Reading the comments (you can comment as many times as you want, I love reading them!) and seeing people give kudous encourage me to continue. Thank you so much!!!


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